Review: "Ant-Man and The Wasp"

After having pulled off the greatest cinematic spectacle of all time, Marvel Studios takes stuff down a notch and delivers a slightly (thats putting it humbly) light headed summer movie to wrap up 2018.

Let's start off with all the things Ant-Man and The Wasp did right, which really shouldn't take long.

Like any Marvel Movie since Civil War, the second installment in Marvel's rather fresh Ant-Man series is packed with humor. Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian and Paul Rudd didn't fail to entertain fans.

Secondly, and this is my favorite part about it, the Visual Effects. Marvel is known to have some experience in this sector. Not only do all Marvel movies use huge chunks of CGI, but with Doctor Strange 2016, they took stuff to another level. So much so that the film was also nominated for an Oscar in the Visual Effects category in 2017; an award which was later won by The Jungle Book. Now, Ant-Man and The Wasp clearly doesn't break that score, but it does get pretty close.

A snap from Ant-Man and The Wasp

A snap from Doctor Strange

Also, and this is completely subjective, but I liked the music. Most of the music which Marvel used in the trailers was straight-up cranky and tacky but the music score in the movie - now thats pretty good.

What Marvel didn't do correctly with this movie is everything except for what's mentioned above.

The plot for the movie isn't all that interesting in the first place, its predictable. Moreover, I really hoped that they showed us more links to Infinity War, but they didn't except for the mid-credits scene. To make matters worse, they didn't even give us a proper villain, something Marvel has had a problem with for ages; the Donald Bradman 99.94 sorts. 

Ghost, played by the infinitely beautiful (yeah, I dropped my jaw a couple times) Hannah John-Kamen, isn't really a villain. Her character is the product of Marvel's very recent fling with Anti-heroes. Its almost as if fans told Marvel how they don't make good villains and Marvel, all puffed up and offended, decided to not make another villain, ever! Sonny Burch played by Walton Goggins is just a humorous addition to the film and definitely not a villain.

All things considered, putting a movie like this right after Infinity War, when fans are all pumped up about Marvel, still humming the Avengers Theme and toasting to Marvel's long rule does cause a few problems. One day, you have this movie that literally risks it all and kills off half its characters and the very next day you've got this half dead film that is pretty much bland. 

Audiences didn't get even one WOW moment where everyone cheered (except for Stan Lee's cameo, of course).

Now, one thing you've gotta understand is that the MCU is not about standalone movies anymore, its about the collective experience. In that respect, Ant-Man and The Wasp has done well. And it isn't a bad movie, I wouldn't say that. It just isn't the sort of thing you'd expect from Marvel.

If I had to sum things up, I'd say:

The Avengers : Infinity War trailer was better than the entire Ant-Man and the Wasp movie. God! That still gives me Goosebumps!

In the end, I believe both you and I have a lot to take from this movie. Firstly, Marvel isn't invincible. Its a studio which makes very jaw dropping movies but it can't hit the bullseye every single time. Secondly, don't trust the Internet. Marvel's Instagram is full of posts with quotes of top movie critics citing Ant-Man and the Wasp "The Perfect Summer Movie" and "The Best sequel since Winter Soldier". All of this is obviously not true. Well, the Winter Soldier bit is.

Should you watch it?

Yes. But don't make it a big deal. Buy cheap tickets. Don't take a cab to the Multiplex, take the bus instead. Don't miss school or re-schedule the dentist's appointment to watch this. And most importantly, keep your expectations low.