Ant-Man and the Wasp

Our Review

The palate cleanser Marvel scheduled between the two heaviest films it ever made, and it plays like exactly that: a light, quick, slightly anonymous caper about a house arrested dad, his ex, and a rescue mission into the quantum realm. Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang has been sitting at home for two years playing drums with his ankle monitor, and the plot bends over backwards to get him shrinking again.

Evangeline Lilly finally gets the Wasp suit and the movie’s best moments, her early kitchen fight running circles around goons while Rudd’s Scott fumbles his faulty gear. The father daughter material with Michael Douglas and a dequantized Michelle Pfeiffer has warmth, though Pfeiffer arrives so late she is practically a cameo. Hannah John Kamen’s Ghost, a phase shifting woman in chronic pain, is the rare Marvel antagonist whose motivation you wish the film explored instead of punching.

The finale, a chase through San Francisco where every vehicle keeps changing size while a building shrinks into a rolling suitcase, is inventive enough. The truth about the midcredits scene, the whole family dusted while Scott is stuck in the quantum realm, retroactively makes the comedy hurt.

Fine, forgettable, and honestly pleasant. Our score: 6/10.