Ant-Man and The Wasp will make a fine TV movie when it comes to HBO or wherever it lands, while I felt I could have spent my movie money more wisely somewhere else rather than dropping it on this film. Either that or it was an off day for me.
Directed by Peyton Reed (Ant-Man, Bring it On, Yes Man) who returns to direct the franchise yet again, it stars
Paul Rudd,
Evangeline Lilly,
Michael Peña,
Walton Goggins,
Bobby Cannavale,
Judy Greer,
Hannah John-Kamen,
Abby Ryder Fortson,
Randall Park,
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Laurence Fishburne &
Michael Douglas.
For the first time in a long time, I'm at odds with the review scores on the web. Rotten Tomatoes scored the film at 86% while IMDb users have given it a 7.6/10. To me, it was a too long of a film for the eclectic story it was telling, coming in at just under 119 minutes. This, after being pummeled at the beginning with 19 minutes of previews. Which isn't always a bad thing.. it's like seeing 10 movies for the price of one!
The story is based around Hank Pym (Douglas) in pursuit of saving his wife from the realm of subatomic particles, while Scott Lang (Rudd) is under house arrest with the FBI for his part in violating the Sokovia Accords back in Captain America Civil War. Events take place that put Pym, his daughter Hope (Lilly) and Scott back together again, while finding themselves on the outs with a ghost (John-Kamen) who needs Pym's tech, a black market arms dealer (Goggins) who has his own agenda, and the FBI, who are always on the lookout for the Pyms, since Scott used their tech to violate the Accords. All while fighting the clock to save Janet (Pfeiffer) from the subatomic realm she's been stuck in for lots and lots of years.
Ant-Man and The Wasp started to feel tedious and long-winded right around the beginning of the third act while it pursued a story line that dealt only with themselves and seemed to have more story threads than it really needed. So many things or details were overlooked or mashed into the story without any followup or explanation, while there were so many moments in the film where it felt like the director was pushing hard to make things funny and it flopped. It felt like a DC film does when they strive for humor! I thought that Reed did well with the first origins film but his follow up in the franchise was weak.
I could not tell if Paul Rudd was trying to be serious or funny, because his funny was off just a bit and his trying to be serious was missing the mark.
I don't think I'll ever complain about anything Evangeline Lilly is in. She had a really funny line in the film, even if the timing of the scene was off.
I felt like Michael Peña was in the film and Reed was stretching hard to find that funny bone that Peña hit in the first Ant-Man film.
Goggins was totally wasted in this film. He barely mailed this one in and he's capable of so much more. Plus, whoever his other buyers or boss was, we never got a name... despite the fact these mystery players were the motivators for Goggin's character.
I've seen better acting out of Hanna John-Kamen on Syfy's Killjoys than I did here. They wasted a gorgeous looking actress' talents on the role of The Ghost. I hope this doesn't hurt her career.
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There was something missing for me throughout the film and I'm still having a tough time putting my finger on it. Sure, they weren't saving the world, just themselves. Sure, dad (Rudd) was risking leaving his daughter for 20 years if he got caught being out in the suit. Sure, a lot of things happened that needed more explaining while other things got over-explained or left in the final edit that didn't need to be there.
The nail in the coffin for me...
I am hoping it was just a serious attempt at a joke, but while most of the film takes place in and around San Francisco, there's a house in the woods in either Golden Gate Park or The Presidio that looks completely isolated and then we hear WOLVES howling in the background. IN SAN FRANCISCO! SMH! And in this day and age, I think it's nearly impossible to actually have any kind of a car chase scene in or around downtown SF.
Ant-Man and The Wasp did not suck, but they could have cut ten to fifteen minutes out, making it a tighter film and it could have been better. The primary story focus was on family, in both Scott Lang's and Hank Pym's lives, and the only reason that I could see the Rotten Tomatoes scores of the professional critics being as positive as it was, was because the professional critics are just kissing ass on Douglas, Pfeiffer and Fishburne. Otherwise, this by-the-numbers movie was just that.
I almost felt like I wasted my money on the matinee, first screening of the day, and this review took barely 30 minutes to pump out, versus my usual amount of time to make sure I had the right things to say. You be the judge. Maybe I was having a bad day, maybe not.
Popcorn score of 6/10.
SPOILER(s)
The two mid and after credits scenes were a mix of interesting and WHY? The mid-credits scene obviously takes place at the same time as the ending of Avengers Infinity War, because of what happens to Janet, Hope and Hank. OMG, there are some way too over-the-top serious debates going on out there on the web on why Scott did not turn to ash! Give it a rest folks... give it a rest.
The end-credits scene has proven to me why I should NEVER EVER waste my time and wait around ever again for an end-credits scene... BIGGER SPOILER - during the film an ant is trained to mimic Scott's in-house behavioral patterns while it wears his 'confined to home' ankle bracelet. The after-credits scene is such a waste of time... showing the ant still doing what it's trained to do.
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First and last impressions are pretty important in many things in life. This end-credits scene pretty much slapped that last nail in the coffin for me. I left the theater f*ing disappointed or annoyed. I'm not sure which.
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