Directed by Peyton Reed
Written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, & Gabriel Ferrari
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip “T.I.” Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas, Michael Cerveris, Riann Steele, Tim Heidecker, Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, Divian Ladwa
Soundtrack: Christophe Beck
Another week, another sequel.
Such is life.
(And I won’t even mention how this is the fourth Marvel movie in eight months.)
Let’s keep this short and sweet though.
2015’s Ant-Man was a film I thoroughly enjoyed except for one nagging thought, and that is, “How much better would it have been had Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish been able to see it all the way through?” The answer is it likely would have earned another half (if not full) star in my rating, but still, I think Peyton Reed and company did a fine job making a mostly stand-alone movie with a fun, underdog, Eighties vibe.
Similarly, I enjoyed Ant-Man and the Wasp, though not as much as its predecessor. The tone is largely the same, and the action is still very much to my liking (aka you can actually see what’s happening and who’s punching who, not to mention the miniaturization is unique and interesting), but the comedic execution isn’t as sharp and I found myself visualizing the ending long before we actually got there.
Even so, it’s an entertaining movie, and in a rare occurrence for Marvel, I actually noticed and enjoyed some of the score.
Quite simply though, Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t as strong as the first one, but I’d still recommend it without any qualms.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of five)