MOVIE REVIEW: Ant-Man & The Wasp
(-Human - Metallica)
I don't like Ant-Man. There's a bias here right out of the start.
It's certainly not because of Paul Rudd. Rudd's a great guy who regularly proves it here in Kansas City with all of the charity work he does, to say nothing of his other exploits. No, I don't like Ant-Man because of how it was written, and because of the way the character has been forced to behave. I thought that the first Ant-Man movie was one of Marvel's worst, and when they announced a sequel, the only thing that really excited me was seeing Evangeline Lily finally get her dues as The Wasp.
Did I think it was any better than the first movie?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Yes, but the bar was so, so very low.
THE LONG VERSION:
Poor freakin' Ant-Man. Whoever writes this guy must really hate him.
My biggest issues with Ant-Man stem from the fact that he doesn't feel like he belongs in the Marvel universe. He just doesn't fit. The other Marvel heroes are purpose-built. They're doing what they do because that's -what they do-. Ant-Man, on the other hand, is doing what he does because Hank Pym made a decision based off of what could only be loosely called evidence and decided to give his suit to Scott. He's just 'some guy'. He's a random. Don't misunderstand me, I love the whole 'Everyman' thing as much as the next guy, but that's not what Scott is doing here. He's not John Q. Public that decided to get serious about doing the right thing and just happened to wander into a super suit. Because of that, it's impossible for me to look at Ant-Man as an addition to the Marvel universe as anything other than a bad joke and a missed opportunity. Scott is not a great man doing great things. He's not driven. He's not called. He can't be bothered to learn the ins and outs of his equipment, or to take its use seriously. In short, he's not a hero. That sentiment actually encapsulates the one and only remarkable scene in the entire Ant-Man & The Wasp movie.
I'd...call this a spoiler, but I'm really doing you a favor by telling you about the one part of the movie that actually matters.
There's a scene where, yet again, Ant-Man has cocked up and he's sitting next to his adorable daughter whilst confessing his sins. That scene, from beginning to end, sums Ant-Man up in a nutshell. He's well-intentioned, but a massive screw-up regardless. The daughter gives him the best advice that he'll get in the entire movie: Go stand next to The Wasp and she'll make it better. That brings us onto this movie's biggest crime, which is the misuse of Hope Van Dyne.
The Wasp is everything that Scott is not. She knows her craft, is serious about plying it, is a master of her trade's tools, and would stand well alongside the other Marvel big-shots. She's LEGIT. She's dedicated to doing the work properly and she represents herself and her identity both in and out of her costume well. The movie's two best action set pieces don't surround Ant-Man, they surround the Wasp. That's telling.
Beyond all of that, there are the larger problems with Ant-Man 2 that need to be considered here:
- This is a movie about The Pyms. It has nothing to do with Ant-Man. He's an add-on, and a poor one at that. He has almost nothing to do with the main storyline, which should tell you something.
- Even for a Marvel movie, the 'Quantum' stuff in this movie is such bullshit. There's technobabble and then there's...whatever the hell this is. Star Trek and Stargate SG:1 taught us how to do technobabble properly. The folks behind Ant-Man 2 were...clearly asleep during those classes.
- Marvel has 10 years of stuff to draw on in terms of storyline to come up with a villain, but they still felt the need to spin something out of nothing for the story to this movie. Since the story revolves around the same Quantum bullshit, the story is also...yeah, you get it. There aren't enough lead fridges in the world to crawl inside of to save you from this movie's story.
- Michael Douglas is so clearly phoning this movie in.
I stopped watching this movie about halfway through and had to force myself to pick it back up again so that I could write this review. If you didn't like the first Ant-Man, this isn't even a rental. Watch the highlight reel and the credit stingers on YouTube and skip the rest. If you're just here for dumb entertainment, Michael Pena and his crew have you covered.
Ugh. That's all. I don't even want to write about this movie anymore...
I don't like Ant-Man. There's a bias here right out of the start.
It's certainly not because of Paul Rudd. Rudd's a great guy who regularly proves it here in Kansas City with all of the charity work he does, to say nothing of his other exploits. No, I don't like Ant-Man because of how it was written, and because of the way the character has been forced to behave. I thought that the first Ant-Man movie was one of Marvel's worst, and when they announced a sequel, the only thing that really excited me was seeing Evangeline Lily finally get her dues as The Wasp.
Did I think it was any better than the first movie?
THE SHORT VERSION:
Yes, but the bar was so, so very low.
THE LONG VERSION:
Poor freakin' Ant-Man. Whoever writes this guy must really hate him.
My biggest issues with Ant-Man stem from the fact that he doesn't feel like he belongs in the Marvel universe. He just doesn't fit. The other Marvel heroes are purpose-built. They're doing what they do because that's -what they do-. Ant-Man, on the other hand, is doing what he does because Hank Pym made a decision based off of what could only be loosely called evidence and decided to give his suit to Scott. He's just 'some guy'. He's a random. Don't misunderstand me, I love the whole 'Everyman' thing as much as the next guy, but that's not what Scott is doing here. He's not John Q. Public that decided to get serious about doing the right thing and just happened to wander into a super suit. Because of that, it's impossible for me to look at Ant-Man as an addition to the Marvel universe as anything other than a bad joke and a missed opportunity. Scott is not a great man doing great things. He's not driven. He's not called. He can't be bothered to learn the ins and outs of his equipment, or to take its use seriously. In short, he's not a hero. That sentiment actually encapsulates the one and only remarkable scene in the entire Ant-Man & The Wasp movie.
I'd...call this a spoiler, but I'm really doing you a favor by telling you about the one part of the movie that actually matters.
There's a scene where, yet again, Ant-Man has cocked up and he's sitting next to his adorable daughter whilst confessing his sins. That scene, from beginning to end, sums Ant-Man up in a nutshell. He's well-intentioned, but a massive screw-up regardless. The daughter gives him the best advice that he'll get in the entire movie: Go stand next to The Wasp and she'll make it better. That brings us onto this movie's biggest crime, which is the misuse of Hope Van Dyne.
The Wasp is everything that Scott is not. She knows her craft, is serious about plying it, is a master of her trade's tools, and would stand well alongside the other Marvel big-shots. She's LEGIT. She's dedicated to doing the work properly and she represents herself and her identity both in and out of her costume well. The movie's two best action set pieces don't surround Ant-Man, they surround the Wasp. That's telling.
Beyond all of that, there are the larger problems with Ant-Man 2 that need to be considered here:
- This is a movie about The Pyms. It has nothing to do with Ant-Man. He's an add-on, and a poor one at that. He has almost nothing to do with the main storyline, which should tell you something.
- Even for a Marvel movie, the 'Quantum' stuff in this movie is such bullshit. There's technobabble and then there's...whatever the hell this is. Star Trek and Stargate SG:1 taught us how to do technobabble properly. The folks behind Ant-Man 2 were...clearly asleep during those classes.
- Marvel has 10 years of stuff to draw on in terms of storyline to come up with a villain, but they still felt the need to spin something out of nothing for the story to this movie. Since the story revolves around the same Quantum bullshit, the story is also...yeah, you get it. There aren't enough lead fridges in the world to crawl inside of to save you from this movie's story.
- Michael Douglas is so clearly phoning this movie in.
I stopped watching this movie about halfway through and had to force myself to pick it back up again so that I could write this review. If you didn't like the first Ant-Man, this isn't even a rental. Watch the highlight reel and the credit stingers on YouTube and skip the rest. If you're just here for dumb entertainment, Michael Pena and his crew have you covered.
Ugh. That's all. I don't even want to write about this movie anymore...
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