Ant-Man and the Wasp

The final credits sum it all up – Ant-Man is really nothing more than a little tyke's Saturday afternoon with a giant Lego set. On the one hand, it's irritating in the randomness of the situations, where basically nothing has any greater internal integrity; on the other hand, it's pleasing to see a lot of creativity in the action scenes and generally the second half of the film, when a bunch of people keep tossing a building around between them like a hot potato. By the way, I'd like to see the interior of the building when it's enlarged. Unfortunately it’s never quite daring enough to make me respect the film, and instead still clings to juvenile humor built around a confused hero in a strange situation, with Paul Rudd playing pretty much a family-friendly version of Deadpool here, i.e. not funny and sorely in need of a beating. After ten years of this, we should all be asking for more from Marvel. I'm dropping it a star for that reason, though compared to Black Panther or Infinity War at least this was fun. (2018-10-03)

For me weaker than the first one and also a weaker cinema visit this year. This is a downright Marvel movie for kids. Not much Action, childish humour (at least Michael Peña was funny at times, but I don't find Paul Rudd funny at all). A weak villain who didn't really show much of anything, it dragged at times unfortunately and I would have preferred sleeping in places. Compared to The Avengers and Deadpool it's a big drop down, but it still sort of holds that standard average. 55% (2018-09-03)

Lots of funny situations just like in the first installment, but this time we also get a whiff of humor at all costs. Perhaps I was expecting the main protagonist to be a little more adult and that the plot would be a little more serious - more fateful (I was much more interested in the story of Hank and Janet than the main story), but this did not happen and by the ending I figured out that something like this might not actually suit Ant-Man. Maybe. (2018-07-07)

Very nice and a big surprise for me. Ant-Man hasn’t changed, doesn’t give a crap about the fatefulness the Avengers and offers an enjoyable ride that manages to work with many characters, always keeping itself together, even though the humour is repetitive at times and the action is so cheesy that it’s almost pointless to root for the heroes. In terms of style, it’s nothing earth shattering, but Reed has a lot of entertaining ideas up his sleeve, the heroes are all great (as are their actors), the narration escalates well connecting all the four subworlds in a sensible way. I really had fun and I don’t feel guilty about it. (2018-10-29)

With its confident approach, better team dynamics, and the abilities of the main hero expanded by a hair better than the first installment, it is also surprisingly a strong part of the whole universe. Given that it has not deviated from its heist schemes, family pathos, or even purely physical comedy, Scott Lang himself (and now perhaps Hope van Dyne) is an easily fitting piece of the puzzle that can shine on its own. (2018-07-07)