Genre: Action

Director: Peyton Reed

Screenplay:Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judy Greer, Tip. “T.I.” Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Forston, Randall Park

Running Length: 118 minutes

Synopsis: From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes Ant-Man and The Wasp, a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink. In the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a super hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside the Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from the past.

Review: After the seismic events in Avengers: Infinity War that shook the Marvel Cinematic Universe to its core – and left many Marvel fans hoping for 2019 to come round much sooner – we suddenly take an extremely leisurely, benign diversion in Ant-Man and the Wasp, where nothing much is seemingly at stake apart from family life. It’s not always a bad thing to be lightweight – after all there’s only that much world-ending seriousness one can take – but there are brief moments in the film where it feels like there’s actually no real reason for this sequel to be in existence.

I had enjoyed the original Ant-Man despite its similarly lightweight ambitions, but a second film revolving around familiar ground (size shifting shenanigans and unmemorable villains, to name two) does seem to be pushing it a little. Fortunately, Evangeline Lilly is given a much meatier role this time round as the Wasp, and she’s far more entertaining to observe as a second superhero with a size-altering suit than Paul Rudd himself, with the added bonus of there being excellent chemistry (romantic and otherwise) between the two. Paul Rudd continues to charm as the everyman superhero, but make no mistake, this movie’s true star is Wasp/Lilly.

Peyton Reed is an old hand at directing comedies, and it will probably come as no surprise that his second superhero action movie is much more assured in its pacing and comic timing. While there are still the requisite CG-heavy action sequences, Reed deftly inserts in more comedic moments that you can shake a stick at, and even though some of the gags feel a bit tired the second time round (I wasn’t really impressed by Michael Pena’s “lip sync” sequence in this film), it still makes for a breezy movie experience overall.

Perhaps it’s because Marvel has had such a good run of late that Ant-Man and the Wasp comes across as underwhelming despite good intentions. By no means is it a bad movie, but it just feels so inconsequential especially following the footsteps of Infinity War, and even more jarringly so when it’s clear that these characters exist on the same planet/plane as the rest of the Avengers. Both Guardians of the Galaxy and (to a lesser extent) Thor had the benefit of being siloed from the main MCU storyline, but given that everything has now converged, even a side-story like Ant-Man and the Wasp seems to stick out like a sore thumb when it doesn’t fall in line with the rest of the titles. Add to that some of the worst, most unconvincing (and confusing!) pseudo-science spouted in the MCU thus far, and it’s quite clear that Ant-Man and the Wasp is the textbook definition of “a mixed bag”.

P.S. The requisite end-credit codas are in place, but if you are pressed for time, the coda that sits at the very end of the credits is totally inconsequential (and feels like it’s there simply to “reward” every audience member that sat through the rather lengthy list of names).

Rating:* * * (out of four stars)