David Pierdomenico
The Consequences of Civil War
Ant-Man and the Wasp picks up two years after Lang was busted for being on Team Cap, and he’s very much still dealing with the ramifications of it. Not only has he been forced into house arrest, but Hank Pym and Hope have also been on the run in the subsequent time, since it was their suit he used. Despite all this, the father and daughter team are determined to retrieve Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother from the Quantum Realm, believing it to be possible after Lang was able to return from it. Matters are of course complicated with the FBI on their tail, a corrupt businessman trying to steal their technology, and a mysterious transparent figure known as “The Ghost” pursuing them as well.
In many ways, Lang is continuing on the path he started in Ant-Man of trying to be the hero his daughter believes him to be. But his guilt seems to get in the way. Despite his normal humorous temperament, and tendency to crack jokes, there’s a solemnness to him at times, as if he knows he is largely to blame for much of what’s gone wrong. Paul Rudd shines once again as a character he’s now playing for the third time. They say no good deed goes unpunished, and Lang feels the sting of this. Audiences can easily sympathize and understand why he was so easily persuaded to be whisked off in the middle of the night to help Captain America. He believed he was doing the right thing, and had no idea about the politics behind it. Nor could he have known it would cause such trouble for the people he cared about.
The Stakes Problem (Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War)
Given that the audiences (assuming they’ve seen Ininity War) already know about Thanos’ infamous finger snap, it created concern that it would be difficult to have any real stakes in this film. Despite this, the filmmakers handle it surprisingly well. This film takes place concurrently with the events of Thanos’ quest for the Infinity Stones. Some argued that the release dates should have been switched, May is a bigger blockbuster month, so it’s clear that’s why Marvel released Infinity War then. But by the end of this film, it doesn’t even seem like an issue anymore. Ant-Man and the Wasp has smaller stakes, therefore it doesn’t really interfere narratively with Infinity War.
The End of the Marvel Villain Problem
It’s quite inspiring to see that Kevin Feige, along with the rest of the Marvel Studios heeded the advice of critics and fans alike. It wasn’t all that long ago that villains were the primary issue fans had with the MCU. They were generic and they all wanted to destroy/take over the world for evil reasons. But after Spiderman: Homecoming, Black Panther, Infinity War, and now with Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel has shown that they’re capable of showcasing well-rounded, developed villains who have clear motivations. Hannah John-Kamen as “the Ghost” fits this perfectly. She doesn’t have some grand scheme to conquer or eradicate the world, and her incentives are quite clear, and even relatable to the audience. Were any of us in her position, we would most likely do the exact same thing.
The Marvel “Pallet Cleanser”
Some fans were confused as to why this film was released after Infinity War, and at that, so soon after. The rumor was the Marvel wanted to delight audiences with a fun, light-hearted adventures, especially after how grimly the last film ended. And in a lot of ways, it works. The first Ant-Man was essentially a heist-comedy, but it followed all the same origin story beats as Iron Man. This film has all the comedy, but rather than mimic the original, it follows it into new directions. Without getting into spoilers, it does help lead into the currently untitled Avengers 4, but fans will have to wait 10 months to see it come to fruition. It has far fewer characters, and a simpler plot than Infinity War, but it’s done incredibly well and is an overall entertaining ride of a film.
