Ever the skeptic, I was never sure how effective a sequel to Ant-Man would be. Sure, the first Ant-Man film turned my utmost skepticism into shock and awe, but could lightning strike twice? Where Ant-Man was thrilling, innovative, and balanced its comedic moments with emotional tugs on the heartstrings, Ant-Man and the Wasp is more of the same to a lesser degree.

from IMDB

Ant-Man and the Wasp follow up upon Ant-Man’s best quality which is the ability to seamlessly weave action set pieces using Ant-Man and Wasp’s ability to shift size at an instant. In other action films, fight scenes and car chases only have a special aura about them when there is directorial love and care. The more creative an action sequence is, the higher the possibility for that creativity to come across as pulse-pounding excitement for the viewer.

If you’re like myself and thought that Ant-Man had some of the best action scenes in cinema today, you won’t be disappointed by Ant-Man and the Wasp which does take matters a step further. Cars and buildings can now shift in size which culminates in a motorcycle thug getting railroaded by a giant Pez dispenser.

The acting performances also carry over well from the first film. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are fun co-stars but the breadwinners are Michael Douglas, Michael Pena, and once again Abby Ryder Fortson. Ryder Fortson’s role as Scott Lang’s daughter continues to carry the emotional weight of the film even though her role in the sequel is minuscule. Pena is nonstop laughs and easily owns the funniest scene in the film. Most is asked of Douglas reprising his role as Hank Pym where the plot centers around his journey to find his wife who went subatomic decades ago.

Pym and his daughter, Hope Van Dyne, now the heir of her mother’s role as the Wasp, believe that their mother can be found since Scott Lang, Ant-Man, was able to return from being subatomic. Pym and Van Dyne are angry with Lang who was last seen in Civil War on Captain America’s ‘traitorous’ brigade. Because Ant-Man was captured, Lang was put on house arrest and under strict watch of the ‘very competent’ FBI. Because the Ant-Man suit is Pym’s technology, the FBI is also tracking down Pym which forces him into hiding.

Pym devises a new device that will allow him to go subatomic and return from the subatomic realm with relative ease. Pym’s wife, Janet, is able to reach out through Lang in a dream. Pym and Hope then retrieve Lang from his house arrest as to pinpoint Janet’s location. The gang is back together and all sorts of new combatants pop up with various reasons to get after Pym and company.

The main antagonist is a girl being molecularly torn apart named Ghost. Her powers are similar to that of an actual ghost. She can walk through walls and bullets and reach inside people to kill them. Yikes. I think even Lang was self-aware enough to drop a Temple of Doom reference. Ghost, real name Ava, was the product of a failed experiment by her father who also had a device to reach the quantum realm. The device exploded and killed Ava’s family but she survived with a chronic case of existing in constant pain and shifting molecular phases. The remedy for Ava would be to extract quantum energy which of course would come from Janet. Ava explains she was turned into an assassin by people who wanted to exploit her abilities.

Ant-Man and the Wasp take several liberties in its plot, which is akin to any action or superhero film, but when said liberties become noticeable, they do detract from the overall experience.

What hurt Ava’s involvement in the conflict was that she became more of a nuisance than an actual threat to our heroes. If Ava had a bigger more dynamic role in the film, there were some viable options where she could’ve gotten her shine.

The other two antagonizers were a black market dealer who wanted a stake in Pym’s technology and wasn’t going to get it the easy way, and the FBI who was already after Pym and Lang. All the minor supporting roles in the film were well cast and acted, mostly for comedic effect.

Even with a looser and campier plot, Ant-Man and the Wasp delivers on the best aspects of its predecessor. I have a hard time imagining a bad time watching this movie. Sure, a more carefully composed plot would’ve given Ant-Man and the Wasp a chance to once again show the Marvel universe the little guys are just as captivating as the heavy hitters, but this effort was by no means a disappointment. To that point, Marvel has consistently not disappointed and very well could be in the Pixar zone. The last real disappointment from Marvel Studios in my not-so-humble opinion was Avengers: Age of Ultron back in 2015. They’ve made NINE movies since then.

Ant-Man and the Wasp may return according to the ending credits and I legitimately hope they do. Ant-Man and the Wasp still grossed big-time numbers, but I would assume Marvel will be touch and go with this uncertain property (uncertain from a marketability standpoint). No one would’ve imagined an Ant-Man trilogy when the first film was announced. Could a third Ant-Man film still retain its drawing power?