Directed by Peyton Reed

Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Randall Park, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne

I don’t go to the movies to see filler. I don’t enjoy when simple premises or ideas are stretched out to fit mandatory runtimes. And I really don’t like when sequels don’t add much more to the worlds they’re built on. Ant Man and The Wasp is the kind of movie I wish I liked more, but simply don’t. It shifts back and forth between a generic action movie and an obvious comedy, and I can’t decide which is more disappointing. I had zero expectations walking into this, especially since all the trailers sucked hard. I suppose I guessed I was gonna see a comedy, but instead I got one of the weakest superhero movies I have ever seen.

Now I really did like the first Ant Man so you can’t call unfairness on this one. I thought it did a great job introducing what could have been an uninteresting character and presented a movie that was very funny and nuanced, and it found its niche in the MCU as a hilarious self aware ride on the idea that people would pay to see a guy shrink to molecular size. It had Paul Rudd. It had a touching story with his ex con buddies and his daughter. It had inventive and well made action. It had Michael Pena and his amazing stories. And it had Baskin Robbins.

Now the sequel. We have….a movie? It would be seriously unfair to want anything from this after Infinity War gave us everything we have ever wanted. What surprised me here was just how little substance it contains. It is REALLY filler. The only major reason I could spot for its existence was the one we all knew we would see, the connection to the Quantum Realm. It even begins with a totally underwhelming recap by Hank Pym, telling us about how his wife shrunk to molecular size to save thousands, and in doing so trapped herself in the quantum realm indefinitely…which is what we already knew. Then we cut back to Scott Lang, who is under house arrest from his violation of the Sokovia Accords (for helping Captain America during Civil War). He’s got three days left until he’s free. We get a truly touching scene where he’s hanging out with his daughter before his ex and her boyfriend come pick her up. I consider this scene a highlight. During this Scott accidentally sets off his ankle monitor, and the followup here with FBI agent Woo (Randall Park) is another great moment.

But the story. Now knowing that Scott has been to the quantum realm and back, Hank suggests that his wife Janet could still be alive down there. A series of events lead Scott, Hank, and Hope (Evangeline Lilly) together again. Scott is the way to Janet. Some strange link was formed between them when he went to the quantum realm. Hank and Hope have been building parts to form a tunnel to willfully gain access to the realm. And when they turn it on with Scott in the room, the movie’s very best and amazing moment happens. I won’t spoil it.

Hope and Hank have been buying parts for the realm from a seller off the black market named Sonny, played greatly by Walton Goggins. Goggins is so good at being these little side roles and outstaging everyone around him. He’s a comedies’ bad guy, but in that he doesn’t realize how funny he is kinda way. Wait for the scenes with him and Pena and truth serum, they’re incredible.

But oh Michael Pena. He was outstanding in the first Ant Man, and had us all laughing to tears throughout. But here he just isn’t as funny as he should have been, which is not his fault. I just don’t think the script was panned out. He still gets laughs, but some of the humor falls flat, and the rest repeats itself. Actually, that’s how a lot of the movie is. The script was alright, but the editing is spectacularly tragic. Comedy is all about timing, you’ve got to know when to cut and not to cut away. Ant Man and the Wasp’s editor or editors should all have been fired during the initial screening. The movie is chopped to pieces, zigzagging from scene to scene with barely any connection. Not just in the laughs either, many times in the movie I had no idea what the fuck was going on. Was that because it was made no sense or because I just didn’t care? Probably both.

Many of the laughs here are ruined by this trashy editing style. Take a look at the scene where Hank and Scott are watching Hope in action in her Wasp suit.

Scott: “You gave her WINGS?!”

Hank: ” And blasters.”

Scott: “So I take it you didn’t have that tech available for me.”

Hank: “No I did.”

In the teaser, this played out amazingly, whole audience burst out laughing. In the movie, the SAME scene is cut faster and from three different angles that destroy these two great actors playing off one another. I’m appalled, how do you fuck up what the TRAILER EDITOR had a better sense to put together than you? Holy fucking shit. Did they watch that cut and think, you know what this joke needs? To be shorter. And from more jarring angles. FUCK YOU.

But anyway, the actual villain here is a girl named Ava. She has a suit like Scott and Hope but doesn’t need it to phase through things. She can pass through objects at will, and increasingly not at will. We find out soon enough that she can’t fully control her powers, and will eventually fade to nothingness. I’m not even gonna go into her motivations or backstory that involve Lawrence Fishburne and Hank because it’s just so standard and bad. We get the longest exposition scene of her literally explaining all there is to know about her to our three leads in one pitifully executed sequence. Ava is so over the top, so heavily overacting that I just pitied the actress playing her. Poor Hannah John-Kamen cast to play Marvel’s of the week antagonist that no one will remember ever.

I couldn’t even tell you what was happening in the second half of this movie. So many cuts around to people appearing during a painfully extended highway chase scene that bored me to no end. And the action isn’t inventive or cool, it’s as by the numbers as you can get with these characters.

I did laugh during Ant Man and the Wasp, but not as hard or as often as I should have. And all the action bored me out of caring for anyone. Considering how invested I was in the first movie, and how invested we all are now because of Infinity War, I find this sequel to almost be offensive. It’s not a movie that I hate, but I hate that it didn’t attempt to do more. It hinges on the quantum realm and that is all. And OH man what a letdown those moments of Hank diving and searching through the realm for his wife are. What a waste of chance to showcase a fascinating world. The mid credits scene is great, and suggests I am right in what limited things this movie has to offer.

So no, I don’t recommend this movie. It’ll rank low on the MCU scale and I think even the fans will leave letdown. I can’t forgive this editing or this villain. The first Ant Man won me over. This one has pushed me away.