A popular and critical success. That’s the verdict of the website Rotten Tomatoes on the movie “The Ant-Man and The Wasp”, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With a Tomato Meter of 86% and an audience score of 80%, this is one movie that’s designed to entertain audiences.
“A lighter, brighter superhero movie powered by the effortless charisma of Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, Ant-Man and The Wasp offers a much-needed MCU palate cleanser,” the Rotten Tomatoes critic consensus said.
That’s something I readily agree with.
After the heavy ending in the movie “The Avengers: Infinity War”, the Ant-Man sequel offered just the right touch of lightness for those who were unaccustomed to the dark tone of the last Avengers movie.
The Ant-Man and The Wasp focuses on what happened to Scott Lang, who is played by Rudd, after the events of Captain America: Civil War.
“As Lang struggles to rebalance home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted with by Hope Van Dyne, who’s played by Lilly, and Dr. Hank Pym, who’s played by Michael Douglas, with an urgent new mission,” the movie’s synopsis explained. “Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.”
Director Peyton Reed transformed the script written by Gabriel Ferrari, Andrew Barrer and Erik Sommers into 118 minutes of sci-fi fun action.
The actors involved, namely Rudd, Lilly and Douglas, portray their characters in a way that ordinary folk can relate to. In short, this is a movie with a good touch of empathy.
The actor Walton Goggins, who plays the role of Sonny Burch, was the very image of a crime lord. Yet Googins still manages to portray his character in a straight manner while still showing a touch of humor in the scenes he appears in, especially with Michael Peña , who plays the role of Lang’s best buddy, Luis.
Michelle Pfieffer adds another feather to her cap with her portrayal of the original Wasp. It’s not her first foray into the world of super heroes as she played the role of Cat Woman when The Batman was played was Michael Keaton.
Randall Park, like Goggins, is another straight guy in the comedy act. Park plays the role of Jimmy Woo, the FBI agent who’s in charge of keeping Lang under house arrest.
However, Laurence Fishburne didn’t get the chance to shine with the role of Bill Foster, Pym’s former partner. Fishburne’s role was to give the actress Hannah John-Kamen’s character, Ghost, more dramatic depth.
The characters of Ghost, Foster and Pym remind us that there was once an organization within the MCU known as SHIELD, a secretive government organization that was infiltrated by Hydra, a group that traces its roots to Nazi Germany.
It’s an obvious nod to the next MCU movie, Captain Marvel, which takes place in the 1990’s.
The Ant-Man and The Wasp answers the question why Lang was absent in events directly leading to the infamous Thanos finger snap that removed half of all life in the MCU.
Yet it also shows how it ties in to the next Avengers movie, which will be the concluding movie of the MCU’s first phase of films. It’s a tale that took more than a decade to be told. And Ant-Man and The Wasp plays a key role that will lead to the tale’s resolution.
The MCU’s tale is about the Infinity Stones. If this was a book, each movie would be a chapter in that novel. And Ant-Man and The Wasp is part of that larger story.
