Scott “Ant-Man” Lang
may be a superhero, but his successes are really highly qualified, mostly
because he never does save the day without distancing his friends and close
ones, that his sense of self-worth is always shrunk to human level.
Lang is reminded of his
character-defining failings throughout the chaotic, but enjoyable super-sequel “Ant-Man
and the Wasp” every time he tries to show his manly strength. Lang (Paul Rudd)
helped Captain America that one time, but only after he stole the Ant-Man suit
from his hesitant mentor (Michael Douglas). However, he saved the world in “Captain
America: Civil War,” without asking his training and romantic Hope van Dyne,
reprised by Evangeline Lilly. He’s starting his own security business in San
Francisco, but is still under high-security house arrest. Simon Abrams said in
his review, “Like writer Nick Spencer's recent run on the Ant-Man comics,
“Ant-Man and the Wasp” presents Lang as a hapless but well-meaning small fry
who tries, and often fails, to live up to expectations.”
Abrams continued, “Macho
pride may be a generic flaw for a superhero movie, but "Ant-Man and the
Wasp" is the rare super-film in which actions have consequences, and the
characters overcome their ego-driven tendencies long enough to work together as
a raggedy team.” Supporting characters, like evil weapons dealer Sonny Burch
(Walton Goggins), mysterious super-villain Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), clueless
FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park), and Pym’s separated former coworker Dr.
Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), frequently keep Lang and Pym off their
well-thought plan, mainly their shared goal of getting the equipment that Pym
needs to rescue his long-missing wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the
trippy, sub-atomic (and very dangerous) Quantum Realm.
Abrams said, “But the
discursive, tangent-filled nature of Lang's story is the most charming aspect
of "Ant-Man and the Wasp." Lang's narrative is a revolving door of
well-meaning outsiders,” here comes his former wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her
friendly do-gooder husband Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) with Lang’s beloved
daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), and disturbed coworkers, like Lang’s “X-Con”
security crew team of Kurt (David Dastmalchian), Dave (T.I.) and Luis (Michael
Peña, always cracking jokes in every scene). Abrams noted, “Many of these
characters are also struggling to suppress their own habitual catastrophizing:”
if Ghost doesn’t steal and start Pym’s equipment immediately, she will die. If
Pym doesn’t get Lang’s help in getting his equipment, his wife will disappear.
Finally, if Lang doesn’t get back to his house before Woo returns to see if he’s
there, his career as “Ant-Man” is over.
Thankfully, director
Peyton Reed and the film’s five credited screenwriters skillfully (but not
always stylishly) balance these differed plot points. They don’t develop every
part, but they do follow through with enough subplots and ideas that most
audiences will be supposedly provided in the characters by the time “Ant-Man
and the Wasp” predictably transfers into a series of well-done set pieces.
However, there are
several parts during the film’s first half where Reed and his writers don’t importantly
advance Lang’s character development beyond moving their chaotic plot forward.
Abrams said, “During these early scenes, Lang randomly loses control of his
super-suit, and consequently behaves like a sulky, Peter Parker-like
post-adolescent. He also sometimes behaves like a relatively mature caregiver
who relishes taking care of his daughter and sighs heavily whenever he can’t
independently figure out how to solve his domestic problems.” “Ant-Man and the
Wasp” possibly doesn’t do enough to settle the difference between these two
fighting features of Lang’s personality.
Abrams said, “Speaking
of personality: the first half of “Ant-Man and the Wasp”—the part that’s most
reliant on plot-pushing expository dialogue—definitely feels like it was cobbled
together by a creative committee that includes five credited writers. This
minor, but noteworthy shortcoming is why I spent much of this review praising
the film’s characters and ideas and not its brick-and-mortar storytelling. Like
many films produced by Marvel Studios, this one is sometimes marred by
uninspired cinematography (by Dante Spinotti, Michael Mann regular director of
photography!), and over-edited set pieces.”
However, this only
happens sometimes. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” really goes off once its makers stop
setting up their strange plot, and start focusing on inserting their better
ideas into active car chases, fight scenes, and comedic moments (Abrams said, “I
especially love the bit where Lang, after being knocked out and tied up, asks
his kidnapper to help him video-chat with Cassie”).
For most of the two hours,
Reed and his team take comic fans on a long, strange drive with some of the
most considerate cinematic crime-fighters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Taken in its total, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” may not be the best in any subject,
however, like its always struggling hero; it is good enough in many ways.
If you enjoyed the
first one, then I think you will definitely enjoy this one even more. I found
it to be more entertaining, more fun, more action-packed and a more humanizing
drama than the first movie. There is a similarity that I noticed the “Ant-Man”
movies have with the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, and that is they both
are entertaining while also having a deep theme of family. However, this film
has a great cast that all contributes to their parts fully and it’s a great roller
coaster ride that is worth going on. This is another one of my favorite comic
book movies. Definitely check this one out in theaters when you get the chance,
you will thoroughly enjoy this one more, I give you my word.
Spoiler alert: in the
mid-credits scene, Pym, Lang, Hope and Janet plan to harvest quantum energy to
continue helping Ghost. While Lang is doing this in the quantum realm, he finds
out there is some bad news out there. The post-credit scene is just the ant
playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, which you saw in the trailer.
Thank you for joining
in on tonight’s review, check in next Friday for the continuation of “Clint
Eastwood Western Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment