Ant-Man and the Wasp

I liked the first Ant-Man and perhaps liked it even more after a few viewings. Reading my post and seeing the things I did not like, I realize that after seeing the film a few more times, those things did not bother me. I definitely enjoyed the sequel. I think the big thing that resonates with me in these two films is how much Scott Lang loves his daughter and how important family is to the story. In 2015, maybe that was not nearly as important to me as it has been the last year and a half. Interesting how these things can change our lives, but also change our perception of entertainment as well.

There will be spoilers from here on out…

This is one of the only MCU films that really focuses on a hero being a parent. Or deals with family at all. I mean, yes Thor & Loki are brothers (but c’mon, they are like thousands of years old and still have some insane sibling rivalry). This movie features the bond between Scott and Cassie; which I absolutely loved. My favorite part in the movie is when Scott tells her that he usually screws up as Ant-Man and Cassie says that he needs a partner. You can tell that she is referring to herself, but Scott thinks she means Hope. The look of disappointment when he says “what, you?” Paul Rudd can pull off that scene (as did Abby Ryder Fortson). He makes you mad with the the way he brushes her off, then he redeems himself by saying how he would love to have her as his partner, then you laugh as he says “but that would make me the worst father in the world.” It is like a thirty second scene, but it was very cool.

I also really liked the villains. Walton Goggins is always awesome and his Simon Burch added a nice flare of silliness. Simon Burch continues that idea we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming of bad people out there wanting this technology for the black market. In the first movie it was weird that this technology would be wanted for creating armies of tiny soldiers, whereas in this movie Burch has buyers who want the tech, but he also wants to basically be a quantum energy pioneer/tycoon.

The other villains were Ghost and Bill Foster. The idea that Ghost lives in a state of entanglement, which…well I am not getting into it. Her molecular structure is basically shifting in all possible directions and states (very painful for her). This gives her the ability to phase through objects. Foster is Pym’s old partner (he was Goliath back in their days at SHIELD), who is trying to help cure Ghost. Again, what makes these villains great is that they are not evil. She just wants to be normal and Foster is trying to help her. He has to tell her multiple times that he will not help her if she crosses a line (like when she says she will go after Cassie to get Scott to cooperate). The ending makes sense, I was going to be upset if she ended up dead or in prison. She may have been a SHIELD assassin, but she never kills anyone innocent that we see.

If I had one problem with the movie, it would be the inconsistency of the science (or at least the science the MCU has created). The reason Ant-Man can knock someone out when he is tiny is because he keeps his mass when he shrinks. Unfortunately, we see that violated so many times in this movie (and the first one). For example, if Hank’s lab shrinks and it retains it’s mass, it should be impossible to move (even if it is on wheels). He would not be able to carry around a case full of cars. And going the other way, when Scott grows into Giant-Man, he would not be dense at all, a stiff wind would probably blow him over.

There is a funny joke somewhere in the movie where Foster and Pym are discussing something and Scott says “do you guys just put quantum in front of everything?” Also, there were a bunch of great jokes in this movie. Agent Woo and Scott’s relationship/friendship cracked me up. And as always, Michael Pena was fantastic, especially when under the “not truth serum.”

The mid-credit scene was fantastic and definitely sets things up for the next Avengers movie. We see Scott going into the quantum realm to get some kind of quantum healing stuff to help Ghost, he is in communication with Hank, Janet, and Hope the whole time, but then unexpectedly everything goes silent. He keeps calling for them to pull him out, but no one is answering. We then see where they were and there is just the familiar dust. The end credit scene was funny, but not worth sticking around (the ant is playing drums).

So here is my theory…

Cassie will rescue Scott from the quantum realm. Either she will go looking for him and find the equipment on the roof (maybe her mom disappeared) and she will just press some buttons. OR we will see the future and Cassie will be working with Tony Stark (once he gets home, maybe he looks for Scott Lang and finds Cassie). In the comics, Cassie becomes a Young Avenger. They will be trying to find Scott in the quantum realm (it will have been years since Infinity War). They will find Scott and explain everything. Tony will tell him that he is their only hope, he has to use the quantum realm to undo everything Thanos did and save all of the people that died.

What were your thoughts on the movie?