Ant-Man and The Wasp (spoiler thread - also Infinity War spoilers!)
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
I loved it. It was exactly the right MCU movie after the heaviness of Infinity War.
I'm really glad they ratcheted up the father-daughter relationship aspect; this movie is ultimately just a family story about parents and kids. It's not a superhero movie and almost doesn't feel connected to the MCU (which is a good thing IMO - it stands on its own), but they are becoming really good at making these vignettes about the characters and their motivations. Because of Ant-Man I and II, I now really care about what happens to Scott and what's going to happen to him in future MCU films.
I loved the character of the Ghost too - a not-really-villain who is really just a terrified kid. If anything, the real villain in this movie was the capitalist mobster Sonny Burch.
On a side note: They keep talking about "30 years ago" and in my head, through the whole movie, they were referring to the 60s... and when they showed the technology from 30 years ago I was like "That's a little high-tech for the 60s but whatever".... My old ass keeps forgetting that 30 years ago was the 80s ???
Comments
Took all 3 kids to it on Friday night. Great scores from all. It was fun, had a good story, and didn't try to loop tons of MCU lore in except to keep things tied in and help with the humor.
Scott's daughter is a doll and a perfect foil for him. Her writing and casting was perfect.
Ghost was awesome.
Post-credits all 5 of us looked at each other with a "WHOA". No doubt about where this fits in the timeline now.
There was quite a bit of discussion about why they hadn't heard about all the stuff happening in Infinity War, at least Thanos' ships landing in certain areas like NYC. But at the same time, all of that happened so fast, being on the other side of the country, it could have been chalked up to "Hey, something crazy happened in NYC this weekend, we should look into it when we're done with this quantum energy thing", and the big battle was in Africa under a dome, so they wouldn't have heard anything about it until the snap, anyway.
Excellent job on this MCU chapter, and looking forward to Captain Marvel in the Spring.
Addendum: Let's talk about the amazing makeup/CG to make Michael and Michelle look 30 years younger. I mean WOW. At the quick glances you got in actual screen time, it was 100% convincing. Technology is nuts, man.
LUIS IS STILL MY FAVORITE SUPPORTING CHARACTER. Truth serum ?
Oh man, the whole truth serum thing was a riot and Luis was fantastic.
Ant-Man and the Wasp continues Marvel's winning streak. The comedy with the whole X-Con crew is brilliant, especially Michael Pena as Luis.
Evangeline Lilly, I love her. I still feel a connection to all the actors from LOST, but Evangeline Lilly is perfect for this, she belongs in action movies.
The frantic fight choreography, going small, back to normal for a punch, shrink down to dodge a shot, then with Ghost phasing in and out, solid matter to invisible, it gave the fights a flair that felt like something I had not seen before. Do you know how hard that is? To actually create an original fight scene that does not seem derivative in some way? Every sequence felt innovative.
I don't think Michelle Pfeiffer's young face was CGI, I just think that woman skips aging or something.
Okay... so for the science geeks here. Ant-Man is stuck in the "Quantum Realm" where the rules of spacetime are altered to account for all possible outcomes.... Obviously the fix for Avengers 4 so Black Panter and Spider-Man can come back and make billions more is to have some sort of timelime alteration, reset, reconfiguration of reality? This is a common theme in serial comics and.... A lot of contracts are going to be up with many actors deciding to finally move on from the MCU. Could the Avengers 4 do a massive re config of the MCU as we know it? Maybe establish an alternate timeline, maybe erase certain characters altogether? How much will Ant-Man plan into this? When the entire Pym clan disappeared my Wife was like.... No they didn't!!! I didn't see it with many people, maybe a dozen in the theater total so I didn't get that big gasp reaction from it, I sort of saw it coming. You know this is going to matter going forward, I'm just not sure how they will present it yet.
I have a feeling the fix for "the snap" as they're calling it is heavily intertwined with the green infinity stone, Dr. Strange having seen "all possible outcomes" and "we're in the end game" and "this is the only way", etc.
Finally saw Ant Man and the Wasp today. In the mid-credits scene there was something mentioned about a possible time vortex. Then Scott goes into the quantum realm and we catch up to the events of Infinity War. I'm predicting Ant Man is in Captain Marvel.