Tonight's Movie: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

It's hard to believe it's nearly been three years since the release of ANT-MAN (2015), one of the very first Marvel movies I ever saw.

When I began watching the Marvel films, I initially saw five in a month's time, and the lighthearted ANT-MAN was definitely key in helping to convert me into a Marvel fan.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP (2018) is more of the same, an amusing and enjoyable film which is an excellent follow-up to the original.

In the aftermath of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), aka Ant-Man, is held under house arrest by the U.S. government for breaking the Sokovia Accords.

Scott is days away from being a free man when he has a strange vision of Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the long-missing, presumed dead wife of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), creator of the Ant-Man suit. Scott has not been in recent contact with Hank or Hank's daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) due to the terms of his house arrest, but the three are reunited in a quest to find Janet.

Not surprisingly, the always-simmering attraction between Scott and Hope is rekindled as soon as they're brought together again.

The mission becomes challenging due to Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), aka "Ghost," the foster daughter of Hank's old SHIELD colleague Bill (Lawrence Fishburne). Ghost has her own reasons for interfering in the hunt for Janet.

That's pretty much the plot in a nutshell, but a bare bones description doesn't capture how funny and creative the movie is. A giant Hello Kitty Pez dispenser and Scott singing the Partridge Family theme song are just two of the movie's smile-inducing moments, and the final bit at the "drive-in" movie is another great little scene. I agree with Leonard Maltin, who calls the movie "pure fun."

The entire cast brings their "A" game, with Evangeline Lilly getting a chance to develop her character far beyond the somewhat uptight Hope of the first film; her wisecracks to Scott are delightful, and there's a palpable joy to the power she feels having her own suit (with wings and blasters!).

Michael Pena is a hoot as Scott's ex-con business partner, especially in a scene where he's given truth serum, and Randall Park (FRESH OFF THE BOAT) is also funny as the FBI agent charged with keeping tabs on Scott.

Judy Greer and Bobby Cannavale return as Scott's ex-wife and her husband. The very functional relationship between the trio of adults parenting Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) is another one of the movie's pleasures. I also appreciated having a love story between a more "mature" couple, as depicted by Douglas and Pfeiffer, front and center.

As always, be sure to stay through the entire end credits sequence; one of the two tag scenes is more important than usual, bringing the characters forward in time to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018). Speaking of which, Ant-Man and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) were the only Avengers not present in INFINITY WAR, so it's to be hoped they will play a front-and-center role resolving that movie's unusual ending.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP was directed by Peyton Reed and filmed by Dante Spinotti. It runs a just-right 118 minutes; it's nice to see a Marvel movie clock in under the two-hour mark!

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13. It's the usual non-bloody Marvel cartoon violence, and pretty light in that regard. Unless I'm forgetting something, this struck me as more of a family-friendly PG film.

A trailer is here.

I've now seen 19 Marvel movies in three years, give or take a week! And now we must wait for early 2019 and the March release of CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019), followed by the as-yet-untitled second part of INFINITY WAR in May.

Previous Marvel reviews: IRON MAN (2008), IRON MAN 2 (2010), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011), THOR (2011), THE AVENGERS (2012), IRON MAN 3 (2013), THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013), CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014), AGENT CARTER (2015), ANT-MAN (2015), AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015), CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), DOCTOR STRANGE (2016), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017), SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017), THOR: RAGNAROK (2017), BLACK PANTHER (2018), and AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018).