Film of the Week: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Only MARVEL can get away with having Infinity War filled with emotion, seriousness, and an ending that shakes up the entire universe, and follow that up with an ant playing drums. Only MARVEL can get away with an ant playing drums.

Ant-Man and the Wasp, the sequel to the surprisingly entertaining but still not quite clicking with some of the audience, Ant-Man. It had a troubled production history, and whilst the final product is one that we can enjoy, you could see it had been stitched together from being pulled apart and put back together again several times. Ant-Man and the Wasp had a much smoother time in production, and the result is pretty much the same as the first, with the exception that it looks what Ant-Man should have been if it didn’t have the blatant stitches throughout.

It had good connections to previous films, keeping the strong continuity flowing by referencing Captain America: Civil War, and the behind the scenes impact Scott caused by attending the Avengers at the airport in Germany, which was a nice touch and somewhat does develop Scott’s and Hank’s relationship together. Scott is unpredictable, but he gets the job done, and Hank has to accept that whether he likes it or not, because he knows Scott will always do the right thing, whether Hank doesn’t see it at first.

The story of rescuing the Wasp from the Quantum Realm was set up with the small blink-and-you-miss it teaser of Hank’s wife when Scott was entering the Realm.

Following the incredibly epic Avengers Infinity War that elevated everything about the MCU would not have been possible, and so there would be absolutely no point in trying. MARVEL did the best thing and stuck to Ant-Man’s style. The follow up was basically what we expected, a simple superhero film that wasn’t too complicated and stayed true to its own grand scale instead of going further than it should.

The best part about the film wasn’t the story, wasn’t the acting, wasn’t the references/Easter eggs, or wasn’t continuity, but actually was the amazing special effects. The way the film portrayed the quantum realm on the human body. The way they briefly explained how quantum science works was just enough to help us understand what is going on. The absolutely outstanding work the editors and special effect workers done on the film deserve far more credit than they got. From a professional editors’ perspective, the effects may be explained away by a simple click of a button and multiple overlaying features, but from the eyes of an unprofessional, Ant-Man and the Wasp has surpassed Doctor Strange’s effects. I was mesmerised throughout, keeping my eyes on the fazing and just how much work and effort was put into just a few seconds in a scene.

In conclusion, Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t the best MARVEL movie, but it is surely entertaining, and it has learnt from the first’s mistakes. If it was a standard sequel not part of a larger universe, then the quality of the film wouldn’t necessarily be as good as it is, but the film as a whole is funny, and a light-hearted continuation after Avengers Infinity War.

Thanks for reading
Antony Hudson
(TonyHadNouns)