Synopsis
Scott Lang is almost out of his house arrest sentence when he gets a vision of something he can't explain. He reaches out to the only people that can help him, Hank and Hope Pym.
Review
I still stand by my original review of the film back in August. Ant-Man & The Wasp is my favourite Marvel film of 2018 despite its stiff competition. The visual effects surpass Infinity War and Black Panther was amazing but I'm a sucker for the comedy in Ant-Man.
I keep trying to pick my favourite bits but there are just too many. I honestly love this film.
Visual effects throughout are so incredible. Young Douglas, Pfeiffer and Fishburne look perfect (let's face it they look pretty good anyway) and the digital work is nearly unnoticeable. Although the lips always look a little off to me. When you watch the making of extras you can see some of the shots where they've used green screens. The graphics and the sheer amount of work that went into things are immense.
The miniaturised car sequences are action-packed and funny, everything from the pigeons to the car flipping, all the little details line up for something extraordinary. Seeing Luis' reaction to that tech is wonderful, and his face when he sees the Hot Wheels case... it's the kid in a candy store moment.
Michael Peña is just a joy throughout. "You put a dime in him, you gotta let the whole song play out." We're getting a whole new side to Marvel films with Luis' speedy summations. Seeing the characters mimicking his rapid speech and acting out his version of events is hilarious. Who do we have to petition to get him to do a catch-up of the events of Infinity War before Endgame? (Since I wrote this up someone on Twitter has also suggested this and I'm fully on board with it... yes, I really am that far behind with finishing my reviews.) Oh god, I hope he made it through the snap.
Ava, Ghost, isn't necessarily my cup of tea as a villain. Potentially because she's not all bad in the end? I don't know. When will governments learn not to take an orphaned child and turn them into a weapon? Seriously! The montage of her training worked really well and looked very much like the opening sequence to a TV show... a spin-off of her exploits in the future perhaps?
We get a lot of surprisingly motivational moments out of this film. My favourites come from Cassie. "Trying to help people isn't dumb." and "You can do anything, you're the world's greatest grandma." Well said. They are definitely things that we should all remember and adapt to our own lives.
We obviously get some credit scenes as is tradition, but the credits themselves should be mentioned. The miniatures are not only apt for our little shrinking friends but so great to watch. Those scenes though... it still bugs me that he says "new ghost friend". Given how long it must take to create a miniature version of something that took them years to create in the first place is he really talking about Ava? I'm also still feeling entirely ripped off by the last credit scene. It's basically what we already saw in the trailer and I'm not sure that the minor changes make enough of a difference... the only thing it could possibly lead to is a solution to Scott's quantum realm issue.
Blu-Ray Extras
- Making Of:
- Back In The Ant-Suit: Scott Lang
- Subatomic Super Heroes: Hank & Janet
- Quantum Perspective: The VFX & Production Design Of Ant-Man & The Wasp
- Gag Reel
- Stan Lee Outtakes
- Tim Heidecker Outtakes
- Deleted Scenes with commentary by director Peyton Reed:
- Hank & Janet in the quantum realm
- Sonny looking for clues about the Pyms
- Audio Commentary by director Peyton Reed
The blu-ray was worth it just for the Stan Lee outtakes alone. It's actually a compilation of possible lines for his cameo and they're all brilliant.
I don't very often watch movies with the commentary on but I was feeling enthusiastic and had the time to spare. It's full of movie and comic trivia and tidbits. I thought that two hours of commentary might be a bit much, but it was very interesting. If they included podcast versions of the commentary I'd probably listen to a lot more of them that way.
What you should do
Goes without saying really that you need to watch this one. It's some welcome comic relief in the face of such bleak Avengers nonsense at the moment. I feel like the blu-ray is worth buying, there are lots of extras, although if the DVD comes with Stan Lee outtakes and the commentary then that would certainly be better value.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
So... many... things... a shrinking car would come in very handy in traffic. Although... I do like Pez.
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