Scott Lang is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a superhero and a father. Approached by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym, Lang must once again don the Ant-Man suit and fight alongside the Wasp. The urgent mission soon leads to secret revelations from the past as the dynamic duo finds itself in an epic battle against a powerful new enemy.
Antman and the Wasp is the latest film in the series from the 'Marvel universe', it follows on from the original film really well and definitely offers much more not only to the film series but also to the character in many ways. I really seemed to find the film strange for many reasons in which I will go into more depth later, the film also has been received very well by critics and fans alike, receiving good reviews from Marvel fans eager to see the combination of the Antman and the wasp. But does this film really pack a punch or is it more of an annoying sting?
The film has plenty of great elements to enjoy, the establishing scene not only introduced us to the characters fairly well but it also allowed us to get an insight into the main story that laid ahead. The film utilised a great combination of emotions too which really helped the film to grip the audience right from the very beginning. I especially liked the use of an introduction narrative and I felt that this really helped to give the film a good start by introducing the audience to the plot, what is happening and who the characters are. It also used a variety of humorous jokes through too, the film was able to utilise these comedic moments to create a great relationship with the audience and had its desired effect of making the audience laugh many times. But the characters in the film weren't just funny either, as they were all established well we had a great idea of the different personalities of each of the characters and this really allowed the audience to have a great impression of them, not just as characters but real life people. This was mainly achieved because of the varieties of camera angles and dialogue that was used too. The camera shots allowed us as an audience to get a great perception of how the characters reacted and felt towards the different events in the film and these were portrayed fairly well too. The dialogue matched this, it allowed the characters to be interesting and genuine and even though some lines of dialogue weren't the best. On the whole, the dialogue really helped to convey the mood of the film to the audience and just generally to help explain their emotions and what was happening during the plot of the film. I really feel though, that Paul Rudd really helped the film in many ways. Firstly, his great use of original humour throughout the film was really well welcomed and was received with plenty of laughs, but also his switch from being Antman to a father showed a great perception of the personalities of some of the characters in the film. Even though many of the lines of dialogue with his daughter were fairly typical, these scenes were definitely key to the film as they added in a bit of emotion and good feeling into the film.
The film is mainly about two characters who can change size at will and that is done LOTS in this film which is great, but what makes it so interesting is the great perception that is shown of the different sizes of characters - one minute they are in a fully sized van and the next they are in a miniature toy car, being pecked at by pigeons. Not only did this really portray the characters and plot well to the audience but it also added in an element of surprise and novelty into the film which was refreshing and fun. The film used smart gimmicks such as the pigeons to create a good relationship with the audience, through the use of some slapstick and scenes where the fourth wall was broken and the characters directly communicated with the audience, to create this relationship and inflict its intended emotions and thoughts to the audience well. The characters were also really interesting and fun, and they all seemed to have a really positive effect on the film in many ways, especially Randall Park who really excelled in his role and just made any scene interesting and funny as soon as he entered it. I especially enjoyed seeing the concept of perception being shaken up during this film, it was refreshing and surprising to see the typical 'bad guy' characters actually have good morals and to essentially work with the good guys to defeat the really bad guys (if that makes sense!!). Even though the plot was kept fairly mysterious until during the end, I still feel that overall, the plot was executed well and there weren't too many gaps in the plot where I found myself confused as to what happened and why. There were plenty of quality twists during the film too, many of which surprised us as an audience due to their positive timing, similar to the switch of the 'bad guy' morals to support the good guys but I was most surprised after the credits surprisingly! I loved the reference to the Marvel universe and the disappearance of Antman's team, it just seemed to be incorporated into the plot amazingly well. I really seem to enjoy how recent Marvel films keep building up the sequel to Infinity War and how this scene really showed the link to other films in the same universe by showing the characters fading away.
There were a few issues I had with the film however. Firstly, I was really unsure as to the relevance of many of the scenes within the film, many scenes seemed to be confusing and didn't feel important to the overall plot at all. Even though they helped to develop the characters, personally I feel that they mainly had the effect of adding confusion into the film regarding the plot and characters and really seemed to throw a spanner in the works. Many of these scenes seemed to feel cheap and unprofessional too, where the dialogue was boring and didn't seem to offer much to the scenes and this just really drove the film into the trap of being a generic superhero film, even though the characters seemed to offer much more. This and the combination of a very fast moving plot seemed to confuse me slightly, I found myself sometimes unsure as to how an event had happened so quickly or as to why developments had been sped up. It all just seemed to be too quick for my liking - which is a shame because the plot seemed to be fairly basic and straightforward. But basic is exactly the right word to describe the plot in this film, it was based around the characters trying to save their Mum from a molecular world that she had been trapped in most of her life. There was no deeper meaning and this just really had a negative impact right from when it was announced. There was no real sense of danger or emergency until towards the ending, and by this point an assumption of the film had already been made.
This and the addition of some awful dialogue really didn't help the film at all, I mean some of the features that the film had in it were really cringey and just didn't feel professional or very high quality at all. This was a real shame because it just felt like the film on paper had so much to offer but it was really let down by these key elements.
Overall, I would give this film a 7. It didn't offer too much or add in many scenes that really gripped the audience, but when the audience could keep up with the plot it was a very entertaining film to watch that really made a solid connection with the audience. The characters were also really good and engaging and the varieties of superheroes was really engaging and exciting to watch, this film really could have been so much more but it really just seemed to fall short for me unfortunately. However I feel a 7 is a fair rating, as the film offered the best of both worlds.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it and I also hope you have a lovely day. :)
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