Earlier this summer, Marvel released the film that it has been building up to over the last 10 years and 18 movies: Avengers: Infinity War. That film was massive—from the cast list and box office receipts to its cliffhanger ending—so it’s fitting that it’s followed with the continued adventures of pint-sized superhero Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). Ant-Man and The Wasp delivers a light-hearted, zippy adventure with fun, inventive action. Picking up two years after the hero’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War, the film begins with Scott serving the last days of a house arrest sentence. Before he can get his ankle monitor removed, he’s whisked away by his former colleague Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who now has her own superhero identity as The Wasp.
By design, Ant-Man is a bit of a silly character. Thanks to sci-fi physics, Scott and Hope can grow or shrink in size and telepathically communicate with ants. Thankfully, the film never takes itself too seriously, and the result is light and entertaining. Much of the action would feel at home in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and the movie pokes fun at the scientific gobbledygook characters often spout. (“Do you guys just put the word ‘quantum’ in front of everything?” Scott asks his brainier colleagues at one point.) And while the stakes may be lower than Infinity War, this marks the first time Marvel movies have featured a female superhero in a title role, a milestone overdue but worth noting.
Should you see it? Yes, it’s a fun escape. —S.W.
