Serving as a light-hearted and amusing “palate-cleanser” after the traumatic events of Avengers: Infinity War, this sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man is every bit as entertaining and humorous as the first film, even if the plot itself is fairly slight.

Premise: Set a few weeks before the events of Infinity War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is still under house arrest for helping Captain America during the events of Civil War, while Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) are on the run, trying to find a way to rescue Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. But when Hank and Hope seek Scott’s help, several new threats surface, all of them trying to capture Hank’s technology for themselves.

Review:

There is a lot to enjoy in Ant-Man and the Wasp, the 20th MCU film and the first to give the female lead a (co)-title role. While perhaps not as unrelentingly funny as Thor: Ragnarok (which is, for all intents and purposes, a comedy), Ant-Man and the Wasp still has a strong vein of humour running through almost every scene. Paul Rudd continues to bring his easy charm to the role, and has a great collection of wry comments that he delivers to undercut the seriousness of most situations. He works well with Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas, who are funny by not being funny, as perfect straight-men for Rudd’s comedic timing. Two films in, and Rudd and Lilly seem like perfect casting, and effortlessly zing off each other throughout the movie.

Michael Peña is also back as Luis, the comedic secret weapon of 2015’s Ant-Man. But director Peyton Reed doesn’t simply repeat the same jokes from the first film, which avoids the character becoming just a walking catchphrase. Even Luis’ hilariously rambling recaps are used very sparingly in Ant-Man and the Wasp – but when one is finally deployed, it results in probably the funniest scene in the whole film.

“…juggles large numbers of characters & still allows them to make an impact with the audience…”

Joining the cast this time around is also Randall Park, who plays FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, tasked with enforcing Scott Lang’s house arrest. Randall Park takes what could easily have been a totally forgettable bit-part, and instead produces some of the funniest moments in the film, undercutting to ridiculousness of some situations just as Paul Rudd does. It’s great to see returning cast members Tip "T.I." Harris and David Dastmalchian as Lang’s ex-con friends, and Judy Greer and Bobby Cannavale as Lang’s ex-wife and her new husband, but what’s great is that Peyton Reed doesn’t bog the film down by forcing too many characters to have too many “big” moments – instead these supporting characters briefly flow in and out of the movie as required, without slowing down the pace. This is one of the things the MCU handles really well – juggling large numbers of characters and giving them just enough moments to make an impact with the audience, but without overloading the film.

This frees up more screen time for the main new additions to the cast, the first of which is Hannah John-Kamen as new antagonist Ghost, who is able to phase through solid objects (which makes for some very creative action sequences). I don’t want to say too much about her character, as that is one of the central mysteries of the plot, but Hannah John-Kamen certainly feels very different from the moustache-twirling villainy of Corey Stoll’s Darren Cross from the first film. Upping the bad-guy quota this time around is Walton Goggins as black market technology kingpin Sonny Burch, who just wants to make money from Hank Pym’s and Hope van Dyne’s work. As ever, Walton Goggins brings menace and humour to a role which could otherwise feel fairly generic – but Walton Goggins is always watchable in these roles.

“…a steady stream of amusing gags and funny one-liners…”

Bolstering the ranks of the characters from Hank Pym’s generation of heroes and scientists, Laurence Fishburne appears as Pym’s former partner Bill Foster, who himself worked on “Project Goliath”, the precursor to Scott Lang’s Giant-Man technology. Pym and Foster are estranged ex-colleagues who haven’t seen each other in years, but they instantly slip back into their bickering and snide remarks as soon as they’re back together.

The other big addition to the cast is Michelle Pfeiffer as the original Wasp, Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother, Janet van Dyne. Appearing in flashbacks at the start of the film, Marvel’s de-aging technology is amazing, and 1980’s era Michelle Pfeiffer looks uncannily believable. On the one hand, Michelle Pfeiffer feels like perfect casting for the original Wasp, and it is great to see her in the role. On the other hand, it does feel like a shame to have an actress of Michelle Pfeiffer’s talent and to only give her a few minutes of screen time here and there. I appreciate that rescuing Janet from the Quantum Realm is, essentially, the primary mission of the film, and so that immediately limits the amount of screen time you can give her – but hopefully she’ll get a bit more to do in any future instalments (perhaps the third film could be called Ant-Men and the Wasps?).

“…after ‘Infinity War’, perhaps this film needed to be smaller in scale…”

The cast is great, and there are a steady stream of amusing gags and funny one-liners, but if the film has any weak spot, it’s that the plot is a little on the flimsy side. Essentially, Hank, Hope and Scott are racing against time to rescue Janet from the Quantum Realm, while others are pursuing them for various reasons … and that’s about it. It’s just about enough to connect the various action set pieces, jokes and side-quests, but there never really feels like there’s much at stake or any real jeopardy … but I guess that’s maybe the point; after the epic, potentially universe-destroying events of Avengers: Infinity War, perhaps this film needed to be smaller in scale (no pun intended), where instead of saving the universe, the stakes were a daughter trying to save her mother?

All in all, it’s a minor quibble – and it’s one of the MCU’s strengths that one film can be about the fate of a nation and the world (Black Panther), the next about the fate of the universe (Infinity War), and the next about a dad evading house arrest and a mission to rescue a single person lost in the Quantum Realm. Bigger isn’t always better, which is a lesson many franchises can be slow to learn.

Also, make sure you stay for the two end-credit scenes – as usual, the mid-credit scene ties into the wider MCU continuity, and the end-credit scene is mainly for laughs…