Ant-Man returns in this summer’s latest superhero blockbuster but his pairing with The Wasp gives very little sting in a disappointing sequel. Going into the film I was surprisingly optimistic after enjoying the original movie, which was funny and did not take itself too seriously. The sequel was the complete opposite however, with many of the best characters from the first movie pushed to the background in this film. Luis (Michael Peña), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (Clifford Joseph Harris Jr), were all good characters that played off Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) in Ant-Man. However, their storyline was lost amongst the sub-plots in this movie and they only appeared as much needed comedic relief.
On the subject of characters, we saw a complete lack of development to make the audience empathise with Hank (Michael Douglas) and Hope Pym’s (Evangeline Lilly) journey to save their mother from the sub-atomic quantum realm. If anything, it does the opposite, I began to dislike Hank Pym for his treatment of his old employees. In terms of villains, Marvel seemed to think two would be better than one with Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) the two antagonists in the sequel. But they both failed to make the mark with neither of their intentions truly evil. Sonny Burch is a black-market dealer looking to make money and Ghost is just trying to save herself. Despite this, Ghost was not a bad character and would have been a worthy set up to a bigger evil but did not work as a main villain.
The plot much like the villains also falls short, rescuing Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) felt like it was a sub plot leading onto a bigger nemesis for Ant-Man and The Wasp to face. Ghost’s backstory was pitifully weak, and her character seemed more selfish than evil. The only service to the plot is the final car chase scene, which is funny, action packed, and we get to see Ant-Man supersizing again after getting a look in Civil War. Perhaps it is films like Civil War and Infinity War, where we get to see our favourite superheroes battle against each other and join to fight an incredible evil, that causes me to be a glutton for big names, but this has none. In terms of Infinity War references, not to give any spoilers but I would recommend staying until the end of the first credits. Do not bother with the second however, unless you want to see a drumming ant.
All eyes will now be on “Captain Marvel” to redeem the franchise after taking a blow from an underwhelming Ant-Man sequel. Before then we have Sony Pictures’ “Venom”, which I think will blow “Ant Man and the Wasp” out of the water for summer superhero film as well as show audiences what a real villain is.
