Cast:
Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne / Wasp
Madeleine McGraw portrays a young Hope van Dyne.
Michael Peña as Luis
Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch
Bobby Cannavale as Jim Paxton
Judy Greer as Maggie
Tip "T.I." Harris as Dave
David Dastmalchian as Kurt
Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost
Michael Peña as Luis
Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch
Bobby Cannavale as Jim Paxton
Judy Greer as Maggie
Tip "T.I." Harris as Dave
David Dastmalchian as Kurt
Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost
RaeLynn Bratten portrays a young Ava Starr.
Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie
Randall Park as Jimmy Woo
Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne
Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie
Randall Park as Jimmy Woo
Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne
Hayley Lovitt stands in for a young Janet van Dyne, reprising her role from the first film; she had been cast for the first film, before Pfeiffer's involvement, due to her "saucer-like, Michelle Pfeiffer eyes" according to Reed.
Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster Langston Fishburne, Laurence's son, stands in for a young Bill Foster.
Michael Douglas as Hank Pym
Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster Langston Fishburne, Laurence's son, stands in for a young Bill Foster.
Michael Douglas as Hank Pym
Dax Griffin stands in for a young Hank Pym, having done so for the first film as well.
Additionally Stan Lee, co-creator of the titular heroes, has a cameo in the film as a man whose car gets shrunk by accident. Michael Cerveris appears as Ava's father Elihas Starr while Riann Steele plays his wife Catherine. Tim Heidecker and Brian Huskey appear in cameos as a whale boat captain named Daniel Gooobler and a teacher at Cassie's school, respectively. Sonny Burch's team of men includes Divian Ladwa as Uzman, Goran Kostić as Anitolov, and Rob Archer as Knox. Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster of The Best Show make brief appearances as Burch's SUV drivers.
In 1987, Janet van Dyne shrinks between the molecules of a Soviet nuclear missile, disabling it but entering the sub-atomic quantum realm. Hank Pym raises their daughter Hope believing that Janet is dead. Years later, former criminal Scott Lang takes up the mantle of Ant-Man and discovers a way to both enter and return from the quantum realm. Pym and Hope begin work on repeating this feat, believing they may find Janet alive. Lang and Hope also start a romantic relationship and begin training to fight together as Ant-Man and the Wasp, until Lang secretly helps Captain America during a skirmish between the Avengers in violation of the Sokovia Accords. Lang is placed under house arrest, while Pym and Hope go into hiding and cut ties with Lang.
Two years later, Pym and Hope briefly manage to open a tunnel to the quantum realm. Lang receives an apparent message from Janet, who he is quantumly entangled with. Despite having only days left of house arrest, Lang decides to call Pym. Hope kidnaps Lang, leaving a decoy so as not to arouse suspicion from FBI agent Jimmy Woo. Seeing the message as confirmation that Janet is alive, Pym and Hope work to create a stable tunnel so they can take a vehicle to the quantum realm and retrieve Janet. Hope arranges to buy a part needed for the tunnel from black market dealer Sonny Burch, but Burch has realized the potential profit that can be earned from Pym and Hope's research and double-crosses them. Hope fights Burch and his men off, until she is attacked by a quantumly unstable masked woman. Lang tries to help fight off this "ghost", but she escapes with Pym's portable lab.
Pym reluctantly visits his estranged former partner Bill Foster who helps them locate the lab. The ghost restrains Lang, Hope, and Pym when they arrive, and reveals herself to be Ava Starr. Her father Elihas, another former partner of Pym's, accidentally killed himself and his wife during a quantum experiment that caused Ava's unstable state. Foster reveals that he has been helping Ava, who they plan to cure using Janet's quantum energy. Believing that this will kill Janet, Pym refuses to help them and the trio manage to escape.
Opening a stable version of the tunnel this time, Pym and Hope are able to contact Janet, who gives them a precise location to find her, but warns that they only have two hours before the unstable nature of the realm separates them for centuries. Burch learns their location from Lang's business partners Luis, Dave, and Kurt, and informs a contact at the FBI. Luis warns Lang, who rushes home before Woo can see him breaking his house arrest. This leaves Pym and Hope to be arrested, and for their lab to be taken by Ava.
Lang is soon able to help Pym and Hope escape custody. Lang and Hope distract Ava while Pym enters the quantum realm to retrieve Janet, but the pair end up fighting Burch and his men which allows Ava to begin taking Janet's energy. Luis, Dave, and Kurt help apprehend Burch, so Lang and Hope can stop Ava. Pym and Janet arrive safely from the quantum realm, and Janet voluntarily gifts some of her energy to Ava to temporarily stabilize her.
Lang returns home once again, in time for a now suspicious Woo to release him at the end of his house arrest. Ava and Foster go into hiding. In a mid-credits scene, Pym, Lang, Hope, and Janet plan to harvest quantum energy to continue helping Ava. While Lang is doing this in the quantum realm, Pym, Hope, and Janet all disintegrate.
Definitely watch this. After the events of Avengers: Infinity War left a somber mood in the air among the majority of MCU fans, we all need a pick-me-up with a light-hearted film like this. Much like the original Ant-Man film, this film continues that trend of stressing the bonds and values of family - especially those between parent and child - along with means one
Additionally Stan Lee, co-creator of the titular heroes, has a cameo in the film as a man whose car gets shrunk by accident. Michael Cerveris appears as Ava's father Elihas Starr while Riann Steele plays his wife Catherine. Tim Heidecker and Brian Huskey appear in cameos as a whale boat captain named Daniel Gooobler and a teacher at Cassie's school, respectively. Sonny Burch's team of men includes Divian Ladwa as Uzman, Goran Kostić as Anitolov, and Rob Archer as Knox. Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster of The Best Show make brief appearances as Burch's SUV drivers.
Plot:
In 1987, Janet van Dyne shrinks between the molecules of a Soviet nuclear missile, disabling it but entering the sub-atomic quantum realm. Hank Pym raises their daughter Hope believing that Janet is dead. Years later, former criminal Scott Lang takes up the mantle of Ant-Man and discovers a way to both enter and return from the quantum realm. Pym and Hope begin work on repeating this feat, believing they may find Janet alive. Lang and Hope also start a romantic relationship and begin training to fight together as Ant-Man and the Wasp, until Lang secretly helps Captain America during a skirmish between the Avengers in violation of the Sokovia Accords. Lang is placed under house arrest, while Pym and Hope go into hiding and cut ties with Lang.
Two years later, Pym and Hope briefly manage to open a tunnel to the quantum realm. Lang receives an apparent message from Janet, who he is quantumly entangled with. Despite having only days left of house arrest, Lang decides to call Pym. Hope kidnaps Lang, leaving a decoy so as not to arouse suspicion from FBI agent Jimmy Woo. Seeing the message as confirmation that Janet is alive, Pym and Hope work to create a stable tunnel so they can take a vehicle to the quantum realm and retrieve Janet. Hope arranges to buy a part needed for the tunnel from black market dealer Sonny Burch, but Burch has realized the potential profit that can be earned from Pym and Hope's research and double-crosses them. Hope fights Burch and his men off, until she is attacked by a quantumly unstable masked woman. Lang tries to help fight off this "ghost", but she escapes with Pym's portable lab.
Pym reluctantly visits his estranged former partner Bill Foster who helps them locate the lab. The ghost restrains Lang, Hope, and Pym when they arrive, and reveals herself to be Ava Starr. Her father Elihas, another former partner of Pym's, accidentally killed himself and his wife during a quantum experiment that caused Ava's unstable state. Foster reveals that he has been helping Ava, who they plan to cure using Janet's quantum energy. Believing that this will kill Janet, Pym refuses to help them and the trio manage to escape.
Opening a stable version of the tunnel this time, Pym and Hope are able to contact Janet, who gives them a precise location to find her, but warns that they only have two hours before the unstable nature of the realm separates them for centuries. Burch learns their location from Lang's business partners Luis, Dave, and Kurt, and informs a contact at the FBI. Luis warns Lang, who rushes home before Woo can see him breaking his house arrest. This leaves Pym and Hope to be arrested, and for their lab to be taken by Ava.
Lang is soon able to help Pym and Hope escape custody. Lang and Hope distract Ava while Pym enters the quantum realm to retrieve Janet, but the pair end up fighting Burch and his men which allows Ava to begin taking Janet's energy. Luis, Dave, and Kurt help apprehend Burch, so Lang and Hope can stop Ava. Pym and Janet arrive safely from the quantum realm, and Janet voluntarily gifts some of her energy to Ava to temporarily stabilize her.
Lang returns home once again, in time for a now suspicious Woo to release him at the end of his house arrest. Ava and Foster go into hiding. In a mid-credits scene, Pym, Lang, Hope, and Janet plan to harvest quantum energy to continue helping Ava. While Lang is doing this in the quantum realm, Pym, Hope, and Janet all disintegrate.
The Verdict:
Looking back at some of my older articles on here and I noticed that I never did a write-up of the original Ant-Man film. I enjoyed that film too, but I felt that this was better than the original in every way, even though I wanted Luis' story to be longer like how it was in the first film when he was recapping everything. C'mon now, we all needed something like this to lighten the mood after getting our hearts torn from out of our chests from the finale of Avengers: Infinity War.
From start to finish, this film seems shorter in comparison to Infinity War or even the original Ant-Man film, but maybe that's because this film handles it's pacing in an excellent manner. There wasn't not a single moment where I felt the film dragged on excessively or without purpose. The ball was always rolling without any interruptions, keeping me engaged from start to finish.
Evangeline Lily's transformation into a heroine as the Wasp for this film was incredible. Every single one of her action sequences looked incredible from her mere presence and how she was able to hold her own. My only fear is that when the Avengers add more heavy-hitting females, like Captain Marvel - who immediately comes to mind with her solo film debut right around the corner in March 2019, is that she might fade into the background in comparison. Then again, Infinity War managed to make Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Mantis, and Okoye hold their own among all of the other heroes in that film, so I have confidence that they will continue to make her hold her own. What's even more amazing is that she didn't underwhelm Paul Rudd's Ant-Man in the least; they were exactly what this film had set out to make them as - a team.
In terms of storytelling, my only issue that I could honestly nitpick at is the "glitches" in Pym's new Ant-Man suit for Scott Lang. That could have been easily remedied if Lang simply just wore the original suit that he hidden away, but later obtained back later into the film that he used back in Captain America: Civil War. In that regard, I can't complain too much as there was too much hilarity to be had at Scott Lang's misfortunes of his usage of the new Ant-Man suit.
From start to finish, this film seems shorter in comparison to Infinity War or even the original Ant-Man film, but maybe that's because this film handles it's pacing in an excellent manner. There wasn't not a single moment where I felt the film dragged on excessively or without purpose. The ball was always rolling without any interruptions, keeping me engaged from start to finish.
Evangeline Lily's transformation into a heroine as the Wasp for this film was incredible. Every single one of her action sequences looked incredible from her mere presence and how she was able to hold her own. My only fear is that when the Avengers add more heavy-hitting females, like Captain Marvel - who immediately comes to mind with her solo film debut right around the corner in March 2019, is that she might fade into the background in comparison. Then again, Infinity War managed to make Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Mantis, and Okoye hold their own among all of the other heroes in that film, so I have confidence that they will continue to make her hold her own. What's even more amazing is that she didn't underwhelm Paul Rudd's Ant-Man in the least; they were exactly what this film had set out to make them as - a team.
In terms of storytelling, my only issue that I could honestly nitpick at is the "glitches" in Pym's new Ant-Man suit for Scott Lang. That could have been easily remedied if Lang simply just wore the original suit that he hidden away, but later obtained back later into the film that he used back in Captain America: Civil War. In that regard, I can't complain too much as there was too much hilarity to be had at Scott Lang's misfortunes of his usage of the new Ant-Man suit.
Following in the wake of Black Panther's Eric Killmonger and Avengers: Infinity War's Thanos, the Marvel Cinematic Universe are on a roll in terms of introducing great new villains this year. Ava Starr/Ghost rounds out 2018's line-up of marque MCU villains (at least on the silver screen). She's not a murderer nor antagonist by choice as she merely serves as the primary antagonist of this film as she is desperate for a cure to her condition. This throws echoes out to me to Clayface from Batman: The Animated Series (at least in his earlier appearances) or Mr. Freeze, where those villains only committed crimes to further their progress towards finding a cure to either their own conditions or to cure the disease eating away at a loved one. Ava Starr's supported by Bill Foster (commonly known as Goliath in Marvel Comics lore), portrayed by Lawrence Fishburne (who more than happily escaped the DC Extended Universe it seems...), who cares for Starr as if she is his own daughter. He doesn't condone her villainous actions, but merely wishes to help her obtain a cure to her condition. Even after Janet van Dyne successfully escapes the quantum realm and "cures" Ava, he stays by her side, promising not to abandon her after her villainous actions.
Their relationship is one of many powerful, yet emotional parent to child relationships in this film - Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne to Hope van Dyne, Scott Lang to Cassie Lang, and the aforementioned Bill Foster to Ava Starr. Scott and Cassie's relationship was already adorable in the initial film. That was stressed even more here as Cassie shows wisdom beyond her years in her understanding of her father's ongoing quest to do good (while occasionally stumbling at it) and have a hand in making a better world for his daughter. That parallels over in the relationship between Hope and her parents, carving her to be the hero that her parents were in their youth. Her hardened exterior hides her fragility of a child doing her best to live up to her parents' legacy. Ava and Bill's relationship is a little more unconventional, but still touching nonetheless as Bill wants to end his surrogate daughter's pain and suffering.
It was great to see Michelle Pfeiffer back in a superhero film. What was the last time, back in Batman Returns as Catwoman with Michael Keaton? In retrospect, that's pretty nuts that both Batman and Catwoman from that film are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now. Back on topic though, I found her to be the perfect fit for portraying the better half of Michael Douglas' Hank Pym. I honestly was surprised to see Sonny Burch show up in this film as that character is usually used in association to Ironman's lore and mythos. To be honest, they could have used him in Ironman 2 and 3 to similar results of the villains' schemes. To this day, I still think that them wasting Justin Hammer in one-off appearance was a massive blunder in terms of my personal issues with the MCU at the start. This was one of those films where the casting from top to bottom just works. I absolutely have no complaints about everyone's performances here.
I loved the clever uses of size manipulation to display Ant-Man's powers in his first film and they really knocked it out of the part here in the sequel alongside Wasp's powers to boot. The effects used to showcase Ghost/Ava Starr's powers worked to a stellar degree - I dare say it looked eerie and disorienting to an effect, but that's a good thing. It reminded me a little of the "twins" from The Matrix Reloaded in that sense. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel Studios were influenced by that effect in some manner. I regret that we didn't get to see more of the quantum realm though, even though we've been only treated to about two or three sampler platters of how it looks visually, but not even to warrant a firm foothold to garner a solid opinion on this for the future of the MCU. Much like other savvy filmgoers and Marvel fans, I think the quantum realm has a pivotal role to play in Avengers 4,
I can't speak for anyone else, but holy cow, they got me good with the mid-credits teaser. I shouted "OH SHIT!" in the middle of the movie theater when I realized what happened to Hank Pym, Janet and Hope van Dyne when they panned back to them back at the controls and they were completely "dusted" due to the infamous snap. I know people are speculating left and right that Ant-Man will play a hand in Avengers 4, but I wouldn't be surprised that Dr. Strange put some sort of time travel contingency plan into motion before he handed the Time Stone over to Thanos that Ant-Man can lend a hand with due to his displacement in the quantum realm.
Their relationship is one of many powerful, yet emotional parent to child relationships in this film - Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne to Hope van Dyne, Scott Lang to Cassie Lang, and the aforementioned Bill Foster to Ava Starr. Scott and Cassie's relationship was already adorable in the initial film. That was stressed even more here as Cassie shows wisdom beyond her years in her understanding of her father's ongoing quest to do good (while occasionally stumbling at it) and have a hand in making a better world for his daughter. That parallels over in the relationship between Hope and her parents, carving her to be the hero that her parents were in their youth. Her hardened exterior hides her fragility of a child doing her best to live up to her parents' legacy. Ava and Bill's relationship is a little more unconventional, but still touching nonetheless as Bill wants to end his surrogate daughter's pain and suffering.
It was great to see Michelle Pfeiffer back in a superhero film. What was the last time, back in Batman Returns as Catwoman with Michael Keaton? In retrospect, that's pretty nuts that both Batman and Catwoman from that film are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now. Back on topic though, I found her to be the perfect fit for portraying the better half of Michael Douglas' Hank Pym. I honestly was surprised to see Sonny Burch show up in this film as that character is usually used in association to Ironman's lore and mythos. To be honest, they could have used him in Ironman 2 and 3 to similar results of the villains' schemes. To this day, I still think that them wasting Justin Hammer in one-off appearance was a massive blunder in terms of my personal issues with the MCU at the start. This was one of those films where the casting from top to bottom just works. I absolutely have no complaints about everyone's performances here.
I loved the clever uses of size manipulation to display Ant-Man's powers in his first film and they really knocked it out of the part here in the sequel alongside Wasp's powers to boot. The effects used to showcase Ghost/Ava Starr's powers worked to a stellar degree - I dare say it looked eerie and disorienting to an effect, but that's a good thing. It reminded me a little of the "twins" from The Matrix Reloaded in that sense. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel Studios were influenced by that effect in some manner. I regret that we didn't get to see more of the quantum realm though, even though we've been only treated to about two or three sampler platters of how it looks visually, but not even to warrant a firm foothold to garner a solid opinion on this for the future of the MCU. Much like other savvy filmgoers and Marvel fans, I think the quantum realm has a pivotal role to play in Avengers 4,
I can't speak for anyone else, but holy cow, they got me good with the mid-credits teaser. I shouted "OH SHIT!" in the middle of the movie theater when I realized what happened to Hank Pym, Janet and Hope van Dyne when they panned back to them back at the controls and they were completely "dusted" due to the infamous snap. I know people are speculating left and right that Ant-Man will play a hand in Avengers 4, but I wouldn't be surprised that Dr. Strange put some sort of time travel contingency plan into motion before he handed the Time Stone over to Thanos that Ant-Man can lend a hand with due to his displacement in the quantum realm.
Watch It or Don't Bother?
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| Don't worry. You don't have to pull a rabbit out of your hat to enjoy this MCU outing. |
Definitely watch this. After the events of Avengers: Infinity War left a somber mood in the air among the majority of MCU fans, we all need a pick-me-up with a light-hearted film like this. Much like the original Ant-Man film, this film continues that trend of stressing the bonds and values of family - especially those between parent and child - along with means one
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