Ant-Man and the Wasp

I made it out to see Ant-Man and the Wasp recently. Went with the whole family and made it through the entire movie without my son needing a bathroom break. Yay!

Quick take: Worth seeing

Obvious spoiler warning.

This movie was a breath of fresh air for the MCU. After Infinity War which carried universe-wide consequence, the stages in this one were appropriately Ant-Man sized. The stakes were all personal and the villains were well done. The planet was never in danger, just a family reuniting.

The choice of villains was interesting. They were more like antagonists than real villains, aside from Walter Goggins. And even he was pretty low key. He was a sleazy criminal but not truly evil. All he wanted to do was steal things. He captured Luis and company and then let them go after he got what he wanted, unharmed.

Ghost worked well as an antagonist. Her motivations were understandable, she didn’t want to die. She had also been trained to be a killer, I assume by Hyrdra moreso than SHIELD,  so attack is her go to solution.  I really liked how she almost went super-villain by going after Cassie but Dr Foster talked her out of it. Shows the difference between desperate people and true villains. Also, avoids the trope of Scott having to save his daughter every movie.

Speaking of Cassie, the actress here did a wonderful job. I’ve never been as critical of child actors as some people so I’m easier to please. But I still thought she did well. Felt like a real kid.

The effects were well done and they certainly had a lot of fun with the shrinking. The Hot-wheels car holder was a nice touch. Additionally, that the MacGuffin for the movie is an entire science laboratory that everyone is chasing after is just amusing.

I also really liked that the movie had a happy ending, tying everything in it up. But the post-credits scene still was able to tie it back into the greater MCU and the fallout from Thanos. Still connected but the movie stands on its own.

Given the hint at Time Vortex’s, I’m pretty sure Avengers 4 is going to involve some kind of time travel. How big, pun intended, of a role Ant-man will play remains to be seen. Does he show up just to show the Avengers how to use time travel without the Time Stone? Or play a more significant role? I’m leaning toward that first one.

Overall, an enjoyable movie. Not the best of the MCU but far from the worst.

Random Thoughts

• How do you eat in the quantum realm?
• Given the giant Pez dispenser, could you solve world hunger by growing an entire grocery store?
• Once again, the concept of phasing has appeared but why they don’t just fall through the ground is never addressed. You could say she controls when she phases but not always.
• We need Luis to recap the entire MCU before Avengers 4. Either in the movie or as a short Marvel puts out. I want to see Thanos lipsyncing calling himself Grimmus.