Year of Release: 2018
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Judy Greer, Hannah-John Kamen, David Dastmalchian, Randall Park, T.I., Abby Ryder Fortson
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
View Trailer
Synopsis and Review:
After the success of the first feature, and the expansion of the character's presence in other Marvel features, director Peyton Reed and actor Paul Rudd's "Ant Man" is back, this time with a more pronounced presence from a partner hero, Wasp. The film picks up after the events that took place on "Captain America: Civil War", and finds Scott Lang under house arrest. Hank Pym and his daughter Hope in the meantime, have been developing their technology further in the hopes of finally saving Hope's mom from an entrapment she got pulled under when she shrunk herself to a cellular level. That technology is however highly sought after, including by this new super powered presence, going by the name of Ghost, who will stop at nothing to get her hands on that device. Ant Man and the Wasp have to join forces to save Janet's life, and unveil the Ghost's purposes.
"Ant-Man the Wasp", much like its predecessor, has cornered the more comedic and light hearted aspect of the Marvel universe. Even if in the comics, there was a certain tragic and dramatic aspect to the stories typically involving Ant-Man, the film adaptations have definitely veered towards the openly comical aspect of having a character that can decrease and increase physical sizes, while also communicating with ants. The tone that surrounds this character and this particular side of the Marvel Universe is never quite well realized, and the tone clashes can be seen when the character suddenly appears on other features, where the general aspect is definitely more dramatic and serious. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" doesn't fare quite as well as the first one did, and much of that lies with the fact that there isn't a very effective villainous character, and the overall story tries to tie many threads together, and not very successfully. The Michelle Pfeiffer thread, the romantic love story between Ant-Man and the Wasp thread, the single dad under house arrest thread, the Ghost thread, Michael Douglas and his experiments thread, the contraband villainous thread, and of course, the supporting team of Ant-Man, and the list seems to go on and on. All of these threads end up being hollow attempts at putting on a flashy show, when there's little substance to keep this feature actually going. The cast is strong, but has little to do, with Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne in particular, probably all appreciating a nice padded check, since their characters have little to do. While the visual effects are impressive, this is probably one of the Marvel characters that would benefit from a different point of view on the director's chair. Forgettable.
"Ant-Man the Wasp", much like its predecessor, has cornered the more comedic and light hearted aspect of the Marvel universe. Even if in the comics, there was a certain tragic and dramatic aspect to the stories typically involving Ant-Man, the film adaptations have definitely veered towards the openly comical aspect of having a character that can decrease and increase physical sizes, while also communicating with ants. The tone that surrounds this character and this particular side of the Marvel Universe is never quite well realized, and the tone clashes can be seen when the character suddenly appears on other features, where the general aspect is definitely more dramatic and serious. "Ant-Man and the Wasp" doesn't fare quite as well as the first one did, and much of that lies with the fact that there isn't a very effective villainous character, and the overall story tries to tie many threads together, and not very successfully. The Michelle Pfeiffer thread, the romantic love story between Ant-Man and the Wasp thread, the single dad under house arrest thread, the Ghost thread, Michael Douglas and his experiments thread, the contraband villainous thread, and of course, the supporting team of Ant-Man, and the list seems to go on and on. All of these threads end up being hollow attempts at putting on a flashy show, when there's little substance to keep this feature actually going. The cast is strong, but has little to do, with Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne in particular, probably all appreciating a nice padded check, since their characters have little to do. While the visual effects are impressive, this is probably one of the Marvel characters that would benefit from a different point of view on the director's chair. Forgettable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment