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Saturday, April 20, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
EDITOR'S PICK
"The Ant Man and the Wasp"; Director: Peyton Reed; Cast: Paul Rudd,
Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Geer, T.I.
David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park,
Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurance Fishburne and Michael Douglas; Rating: ***
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has a unique charm as it is packed with
magical fantasia and logic of its own.
Following "Avengers: Infinity
War", which released this April, "The Ant Man and the Wasp" is the 20th film of
this Universe and despite having a simple plot that drives a superficially
complex and convoluted story, the film is equally engaging and entertaining.
Yes, this film is a sequel to "The Ant Man", which released in 2015. And
adhering to the original, the argument in the plot goes into quantum spaces.
"The Quantum" dominates in the argument: it is the driving force of this tale,
which tries to tie in together the different aspects of the Ant-Man's Universe,
but achieves nothing.
The narrative begins with the character of Scott
Lang (Paul Rudd) being house-arrested for joining Captain America in a skirmish
between the Avengers in Germany, which is derived from a plot of another film.
These intertextual references between different films works for fans of
superhero films, who are usually the uncritical audience. But when these
references repeat too often, it annoys.
Nevertheless, despite the
imprisonment of Scott Lang, the plot propels with the arrival of Hank Pym
(Michael Douglas), the scientist who discovered the shrinking formula and his
daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who is introduced as a superhero The Wasp. She
has characteristics similar to Mr. Ant.
Of course, there is romance
between the two of them as Scott and Hope and not as Hymenoptera heroes. It is
the part of the mentioned simplicity of the plot.
As the narrative
progresses, you realise that the fate of the entire planet is not at stake and
the crux of the film at its core is family union. And, it gives you in double
dose; Hank and Hope with Janet and Lang himself with his daughter Cassie (Abby
Ryder Forston) who leaves his house to adorn the Ant-Man uniform and risked
being sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Ant-Man and the Wasp unite to
fight two antagonists who are pursuing the secret formula designed by Pym that
helps in size reduction. Why? That is not revealed clearly and is one of the
reasons why the tale seems phoney.
Also, what makes this film limp are
the weak antagonists. The mobster Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) is pursuing Pym's
technology to sell on the black market and Ava (Hanna John Kamen) is the
resentful spirit who integrates and disintegrates at will. They fail to make an
impact as villains.
The cast, continuing from the original, has Michael
Pena as Luis, Lang's former cellmate and now a member of his X-Con Security
crew, Bobby Cannavale as Jim Paxton, the Police Officer who keeps tabs on Lang
and Judy Greer as Lang's ex-wife Maggie, have less opportunity than what they
had in the first edition.
On the visual front, the film is technically
spot-on. The action sequences are well-captured and the frames oscillate from
the real to the enlarged and shrunken images adroitly. The computer generated
images mesh well with the motion capture frames and the 3D effects and
background scores are add-ons that elevate the viewing experience created by the
razor sharp, flawless edits.
Overall, while this film engages you, it is
the final credit teaser that will keep fans of MCU hooked to the very end, for
the secret of the next episode.
