threeballs
Since: Aug, 2013
08/09/2018 00:00:00
On the subject of character names, I realized after seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp that nobody every refers to the Wasp as, well, the Wasp. The trailer had it's line "Ant-Man and the Wasp teaming up!" or something like that, yet she is only ever called Hope. Not even a throwaway "Get that wasp thing!" line from a crook.
It’s things like this that sit with me longer than the plot of the movie. The only real thing that sat with me, beyond all the better story ideas I had, was the notion of the Ghost using a regional Hull accent for all her line deliveries.
“Urrr nuurrr, Ant-Man, I’m gunna get yur cuz I’m the Gurrst.”
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A Placeholder for a Marvel Movie
In Marvel: Infinity War, someone asks, "Wait, there's a Spiderman and an Ant Man?!" Besides the invertebrate theme, the new Ant-Man and the Wasp movie feels vaguely reminiscent of Spiderman Homecoming, which shares a lighter hearted, smaller story, fighting over lower stakes with a more likeable villain. Marvel have apparently been listening to all those criticisms about one note bad guys and apocalyptic sky lasers. The problem with Wasp is they might have been a little too zealous to fix things.
Wasp picks up at some vague time after the events of one of the Captain America movies. It kind of relies a little too much on you having seen Ant Man, Captain America: Civil War, and the last Avengers movie - but who are we kidding - if you are paying to see what is considered the runt franchise of Marvel's litter, you probably have watched those movies already. It does however mean that there is some necessary housekeeping throughout the movie to explain where this film is in relation to the others, and update you on what powers the heroes actually have. It's a bit clunky.
The plot of Ant Man is a rescue mission to find Michael Douglas's character's wife, who is lost in the infinitesimal "Quantum Zone". The tension of this rescue mission immediately deflates when the audience see in the first five minutes that of course they are going to succeed - they're paying out for Michelle Pfieffer to play the wife. Also the protagonist has weird dreams and body swap moments with Michelle Pfeiffer's character, and it feels cribbed from the similarly predictable Star Trek 3, but whatever, it's not about the foregone plot resolution, it's about the journey.
You might have noticed that I haven't been using any names in this movie. That's because I can't remember anyone's name. In fact most of the events are a blur now, despite me having only watched it yesterday. I vaguely remember comedy action scenes and I think I had a good time, but it's all so disposable that my brain couldn't be bothered to file any part of the movie away beyond a couple of images. One thing I do remember is how the movie lacks a villain; it has an antagonist with cool powers and a suit, but Marvel have gone to too much trouble to make her back story and motivations relatable, and at no point does she do anything more evil or unkind than the heroes. She's basically a competitor rather than a bad guy, which ruins the stakes further as you know she isn't going to come to any real harm - she's too tragic and cute for that to happen.
Ant Man and the Wasp is a fun movie, but one that feels like it's just filling space in the Marvel movie release schedule. It is utterly redundant, and whilst you won't have a bad time with it, you might as well only watch it when it comes out on TV for free.