With Ant-Man and the Wasp they wanted to make the second pure action comedy since Thor: Ragnorok, and no surprise here, they have succeeded again.
I am starting to believe that Marvel has entered the same rarified air as Pixar operating at the peak of its creative powers. They are close cinematic infallibility, with each new film succeeded when it absolutely should not.
The makers of Ant-Man realize that the premise of the character (who for the uninitiated can be both King Kong sized and subatomic) is so inherently silly, that they lean into it, have as much fun as a possible with it (including rapidly resizing vehicles and buildings!) and do it all in an expertly paced and wittily written script that maximizes the skills of its incredible cast, including Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fisburne and the scene stealing Michael Pena.
I saw this film with the best audience, once mostly comprised of families. The kids got a kick out of the incredible special effects and broad physical humor, while the adults were tickled pink by the zingers that almost all landed.
Rudd and company are clearly comfortable in their roles now, and since the first Ant-Man has held up better than some other Marvel debuts, they feel free to double down here and expand on everything you likely loved about the first film (including Pena's motor-mouthed storytelling technique and the mind-blowing de-aging special effects used on Douglas, and now Pfeiffer).
I already loved this movie to death, and then I happened to catch the ill-fated Justice League movie on HBO today and it made me appreciate Ant-Man and the Wasp so much more. Justice League is a film that takes great pains (and it shows) in an effort to try to be funny and affable but fails miserably.
It doesn't help that their concept of The Flash is just that 'a concept,' and not a fully formed character, but the script just feels rudderless and unengaging. I know the production was troubled, with Joss Whedon having to pinch hit for director Zack Synder when tragedy struck his family, but the fact that despite that this film is more watchable than Suicide Squad and Batman v. Superman is really a testament to just how terrible those movies are.
What the makers of Ant-Man get, is that you have got to care about and like these characters -- they even pull off a ridiculously adorable and precocious child character without becoming the least bit grating about it -- before you get to the pyrotechnics.
It seems like a simple enough formula, the film should justify its own existence with a strong script and performances, but it just doesn't happen as much as it could or should. Right now, this may be the most fun summer movie out there, although early reviews suggest Mission: Impossible Fallout may take the crown and run away with it.
But again, that's a film and a series where the people behind them -- Tom Cruise in particular -- is invested in them being good, not just successful. The M:I movies and the Marvel movies have established a bar for quality and audiences rightfully expect them to keep it up.
The fact that after dozens of films and ten years of larger-than-life heroes, a post-credit sequence scene in a movie like Ant-Man and the Wasp can make me gasp and buzz about its follow-up is compelling and humbling.
Now, if only Marvel could take on the Russians.
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