Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

[Andrew NDB]

Well, has anyone seen it yet? The reviews I'm seeing online are mostly, "It painfully follows the same formula as all Marvel movie sequels ever, and plays things way too safe" but still "I'd watch a part 3."

[Krutch]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Well, has anyone seen it yet? The reviews I'm seeing online are mostly, "It painfully follows the same formula as all Marvel movie sequels ever, and plays things way too safe" but still "I'd watch a part 3."

Yep, pretty much my take. Though I went in expecting exactly that, so, I enjoyed it for what it was.

[plastroncafe]

I really liked it, though it was missing some of the magic that Edgar Wright brought to the project.

[Andrew NDB]

Saw it. Yep, kind of exactly what I was expecting. But I liked it. Fun! A lot of fun. Just as clever as the first one and some really well-staged, well thought out action pieces. Definitely a nice change of pace after "Infinity War." Lots of what I have to assume to be adlibbing, but it actually works out quite funny here.

Spoiler:

No bad guy! There's like, no one that really Ant-Man gets pitted against. Even the FBI guy that keeps hounding Ant-Man is made to be super likeable. Walton Goggins is more buffoonery than legitimate Big Bad, and Ghost begins as kind of scary and then quickly becomes super sympathetic victim that's just trying to stay alive. Which SOUNDS like a good villain on paper, but it's played up much like the female Mummy in the last Mummy movie, where almost every scene hammers home that the Mummy has been horribly victimized and is perfectly redeemable. And then the movie actually cures Ghost out of nowhere... and then has no idea what to do with her. I was expecting her to do some kind of big thing to save everyone to show her gratitude, or go even nuttier and go down in a crazy spree, or... something. Anything. And the the ending of the movie is fairly abrupt and unexpectedly blase.

Sidenote: did it strike anyone as weird that we're told it's been 2 years since Civil War? Does that jive with everything else?

[AT-Man]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Sidenote: did it strike anyone as weird that we're told it's been 2 years since Civil War? Does that jive with everything else?

No, because aren't they supposed to happen approximately in the current day? In Infinity War Tony said "Thanos has been in my head for 6 years" meaning since the first Avengers.

The only one that doesn't fit the overall picture is Homecoming, which supposedly happens 8 years after Avengers BUT also weeks/months after Civil War? Either they totally messed it up or there will be some kind of time shenanigans involved.

[plastroncafe]

Maybe I just read one too many X-Men comics, but blips in the continuity like that just make the MCU feel more like its source material.

For me it's a feature not a bug.

[raph27]

Originally Posted by AT-Man

The only one that doesn't fit the overall picture is Homecoming, which supposedly happens 8 years after Avengers BUT also weeks/months after Civil War? Either they totally messed it up or there will be some kind of time shenanigans involved.

Kevin Feige admitted that the "8 Years Later" was a mistake. Dunno how that slipped by, but oh well. So ignoring that, we can assume that Avengers takes place in 2012, Civil War, Black Panther, and Homecoming all took place in 2016, and Infinity War and this movie took place in 2018.

Overall thoughts on the film: it was enjoyable. Nothing super special, but a nice feel-good summer movie. Paul Rudd is at his best here.

More detailed thoughts:

Spoiler:

I really enjoyed Ghost, though I agree with Andrew that she could have used some sort of resolution. Maybe she'll show up again in a future movie?

For a movie called Ant-Man and the Wasp, I feel like there wasn't very much actual team up work between the two, at least, as their superhero counterparts. There was a lot of moments between Scott and Hope, but that's not exactly the same.

I really wish Janet hadn't been shown in the marketing. That kind of dampened the big reveal. Though the Quantum Realm scenes were still beautiful.

Anyone else think Michael Douglas seemed kind of off during most of the movie? I can't exactly describe why, and maybe it was intentional, but he just seemed... shaky, I guess.

And the mid credits scene. Holy ****. Predicted Wasp would go, but the whole family was devastating.

Another sidenote: there was a Jurassic World amount of product placement in this movie. The Froot Loops, those pastry things, the PEZ, Hot Wheels, I think there were even more that I'm forgetting now.

[plastroncafe]

I'm thinking that...

Spoiler:

We'll see Ghost again, given that Scott was going to the Quantum Realm to get more energy for her.

And that the canister of healing energy is going to play a role in the next Avengers movie.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Maybe I just read one too many X-Men comics, but blips in the continuity like that just make the MCU feel more like its source material.

For me it's a feature not a bug.

Nah, that's dumb, I made that joke before for Fox's X-Men but it was tongue in cheek since it was like the comics. I do love continuity though but I think strict timelines of when events happen in most shows/movies is a bit dumb because it restricts creative freedom. I think it's easier to fit different stories when there isn't a strict timeline of events, at least dated events, these movies need wiggle room.

[ranger_scout]

I thought this was such a fun film. There's just a great amount of chemistry between the cast and there are so many likable characters. Plus, it was nice to see Michelle Pfeiffer go from playing a dark and twisted villain like Catwoman in a D.C. Comics film to smart and wise motherly figure in this one. It was just what the Marvel Cinematic Universe needed following the very dramatic ending of Avengers: Infinity War.

Spoiler:

Except for of course the mid-credits scene where Hope, Hank and Janet met the same fate as half of the world's population in Avengers: Infinity War. Scott's fate in that film makes sense how. It'll be interesting to see how the remaining heroes will find him. The de-aging done on Michael Douglas was very well-done. Pfeiffer obviously didn't need it as much, but she still looked great in both the past and present scenes.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah

Spoiler:

Ghost will definitely be back. Like, that was clearly part of the mission statement in this movie. Like, "Make sure and introduce Ghost! Find a spot for her! We need her for _____." But then they didn't really make her part work, entirely. Not in the third act. My suspicion is that she'll pop up in something else (POSSIBLY Avengers 4) as some kind of deus ex machina.

One thing that occurred to me. Maybe this is a big deal and maybe it's not... but in Infinity War, they mention that the reason they don't have Scott (or Hawkeye) is because he's on house arrest, right? And the Sekovia stuff. Now, I'm sure there's a little bit of a time lapse at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp... clearly at least a month or two has passed between Hank Pym presenting Janet with her new house on the water and the mid-credits scene with actively doing Quantum experiments with Scott, yes? Well that's at least a couple months that Scott has been released from house arrest. This brings up a couple of things:

1) We know that Infinity War plays out over a day or so. Scott wasn't, like, in a vacuum prior to the events of the mid-credits scene. Why would he have no clue about all the Thanos goings-on?

2) We have to assume the Avengers would at least attempt to reach out to Scott Lang. Infinity War made sense when it said he was still on house arrest (and even then, the assumption is that they at least attempted to hit him up)... but now that we've seen "Ant-Man & the Wasp" we know that he absolutely wasn't on house arrest during the events of Infinity War. Like, not even close. So...?

[Mayhem]

So the film is set closer to Infinity War than Civil War? But before or after...?

[XERO]

The film itself is 2 years after Civil War but before Infinity War.

The mid-credits scene is towards the end of Infinity War.

[drgon78]

I saw it Friday, it was good, funny, and entertaining.

[psychturtle]

There’s were parts I liked. But this one just felt meh and empty to me. I put it on same level as Thor: The Dark World (cringe parts, weak villain, cheesy ending). Post credit scene was my favorite part

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Loved it. Loved it a lot.

This was the MCU's "The Search for Spock", and for that, I don't think Janet was underused. She was the raison d'etre or whatever for this movie.

Also loved that there were no true villains, just a bunch of different obstacles... Sonny Burch (the doofus), Ava and Bill Foster, and Jimmy Woo and the cops.

Only complaint was that Scott Lang DID seem to drop a few IQ points in order to necessitate some of the movie's plot development. I'd rather the writers found a different way to set up necessary events.

Oh, and Cassie was adorable. Just adorable.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Loved it. Loved it a lot.

This was the MCU's "The Search for Spock", and for that, I don't think Janet was underused. She was the raison d'etre or whatever for this movie.

Also loved that there were no true villains, just a bunch of different obstacles... Sonny Burch (the doofus), Ava and Bill Foster, and Jimmy Woo and the cops.

Only complaint was that Scott Lang DID seem to drop a few IQ points in order to necessitate some of the movie's plot development. I'd rather the writers found a different way to set up necessary events.

Oh, and Cassie was adorable. Just adorable.

I also loved that there was no "main" villain, just separate sets of people all trying to get the same thing. It was a welcome change from the first Ant-Man movie which was good but suffered from the Marvel problem of having a villain who was simply a dark version of the hero, with the same power set. I think I liked Ant-Man and the Wasp more than the first one, which for me makes it only the second MCU sequel to surpass the original (the other being The Winter Soldier). I also liked that the stakes were so much lower in this film; the whole world wasn't at risk, it was just a man and his daughter trying to get their wife/mother back, with Scott trying to help them while avoiding being caught violating his house arrest

Originally Posted by psychturtle

There’s were parts I liked. But this one just felt meh and empty to me. I put it on same level as Thor: The Dark World (cringe parts, weak villain, cheesy ending). Post credit scene was my favorite part

Man what? The Dark World has got to be the absolute worst MCU film; this one was way better than that. To each their own I guess

[Coola Yagami]

I enjoyed it. It was different. The first movie was more of a heist movie, this one was more of a rescue mission. It was refreshing to see Ghost get her happy ending since usually a tragic villain, no matter how tragic, gets killed or arrested anyway. Luis was a highlight and I'm glad he came back. The truth serum running gag was hilarious. I even liked that the FBI guy wasn't the usual douche that shoots first and asks questions later. You can tell he's a great guy and he's just doing his job.

[XERO]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

It was refreshing to see Ghost get her happy ending since usually a tragic villain, no matter how tragic, gets killed or arrested anyway.

Not necessarily a happy ending for Ghost:

Spoiler:

I mean, sure, Janet used her powers she manifested from the Quantum Realm to ease Ghost's pain and flux, but that was only a temporary solution. That's why Ant-Man went back to the Quantum Realm to retrieve more Quantum matter into the device that could contain it.

Unfortunately, Thanos f*cked that all up. And now Hope, Janet and Hank are eradicated, and Scott is trapped inside the Quantum Realm. As for Ghost... she may be still alive, but we don't know for sure. So it's not much of a happy ending, more like a bittersweet cliffhanger, if that makes sense?

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by XERO

Not necessarily a happy ending for Ghost:

Spoiler:

I mean, sure, Janet used her powers she manifested from the Quantum Realm to ease Ghost's pain and flux, but that was only a temporary solution. That's why Ant-Man went back to the Quantum Realm to retrieve more Quantum matter into the device that could contain it.

Unfortunately, Thanos f*cked that all up. And now Hope, Janet and Hank are eradicated, and Scott is trapped inside the Quantum Realm. As for Ghost... she may be still alive, but we don't know for sure. So it's not much of a happy ending, more like a bittersweet cliffhanger, if that makes sense?

Yeah, the whole thing ended on a cliffhanger. Antman is basically screwed.