“Ant-Man and the Wasp” Leaves a Sting in the Tail

Release Date：Jul/6/2018
Genre：Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Director：Peyton Reed
Cast：Paul Rudd、Evangeline Lilly、Michael Douglas、Michael Peña、Michelle Pfeiffer

Viola's Rating：7.9

Marvel aficionados might wonder where Ant-Man was while watching “Avengers: Infinity War” since he fought back-to-back with Captain America in “Captain America: Civil War”. However, Captain himself and everyone on his team’s whereabouts is a mystery for the audience in the latest feature film of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), so it’s still something waiting to be explained later in the franchise. Yet before that, Marvel Studios first released “Ant-Man and the Wasp” to set out the plot on Scott Lang’s side.

Featuring MCU’s smallest superhero, this adventurous, action sci-fi is depicted as a “Big Hero 6 meets Spider-Man: Homecoming” story. In “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, Lang balances being both a father and a superhero, and his ex-girlfriend, Hope van Dyne and her father, Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission with Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

If you’ve seen “Big Hero 6”, you’ll find similar elements related to quantum realm in “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, which was brought up in the first episode, and all the partners, or the sidekicks, Scott Lang found in the previous film came back to stand by him once again, just as Peter Parker’s friend in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”.

Unlike the first episode, there’s no shot with a bunch of ants crawling at the same time, so it’s friendly to people with trypophobia, fear of holes or textures with a pattern of holes. However, those with insectophobia might still need to be aware.

Aside from its insect-related and superhero-related features, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” really is a flock about love. From the interaction between Dr. Hank and Hope, Lang and his daughter, we see how much love a father can give his daughter. Although Ant-Man’s partners aren’t very reliable, which create a couple of punchlines in the motion picture, they clearly represent loyal friendship. Also, Hope broke up with Scott Lang because he went to Germany to fight with Captain America without noticing her, so in “Ant-Man and the Wasp”, both of them try to rekindle the romantic feeling between each other.

Even with a theme of love, it’s still an action movie, so there are a large number of adrenaline-driven car-chasing scenes, especially with cars changing sizes. With Hope and Lang’s ability in their suits and the cars Dr. Hank remodeled, the action scenes are extra exciting, and moviegoers get to experience how it’s like to look from a smaller scale.

Overall, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is a better entertainment comparing to its previous picture, and in order to get this tiny hero back to the bigger storyline in MCU, the studio leaves a sting in the tail that everyone will be upset before walking out of the theater. Let’s wait for “Agengers 4” to see the coming back of these characters!

Picture Credit: IMDb