Took a little longer for this one. Got a lot going on, & after going on for almost 20 mins in my first thoughts video (see here), I decided to take an extra day. Crazy thing is, the more I keep going over Ant-Man & the Wasp in my head, the more I realize how much I loved it. From the time it started all the way to the amazing end-credit scene. This is not only perfect follow up to the first Ant-Man, it even feels like this spot is the perfect spot in the MCU for this to land. Taking place during the events of Infinity War this film offers a much needed counter to the weight of the SNAP. Very few times do comedy sequels live up their predecessors, but this one makes it look easy. This thing fires joke after joke, but the jokes are so natural. It's "real world" comedy based off the amazing personalities of these characters. Evangeline Lilly's Wasp really steals the "superhero" side of this one. She kicks @$$! Her fight choreography paired with the shrinking, growing, shooting, & flying was amazing on so many levels. This actually goes for all of the films choreography. From the fights to the chase scenes to all of the various uses of shrinking of growing, this film felt like it never even thought of taking a break. With Wasp playing the heroics Paul Rudd was able to spend more time being Paul Rudd. On house arrest for helping Captain America in Civil War, all he wants to do is spend some time with his daughter. This sets up his relationship with Randall Park's CIA agent. Between that & his relationship with Michael Douglas's Hank Pym, I couldn't figure out which I enjoyed more. These guys are hilarious together. Speaking of hilarious though, Michael Peña's Luis is my favorite MCU character. His crew backs him up great, but I totally sponsor his character doing a full retelling of the MCU to this point at the opening of Avengers 4. Newcomer Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost serves up a villain that we haven't really got in the MCU. Her motives are so relatable it's really hard to look at her as a true villain. Adding more layers to what takes the films center. The hunt for Hank's wife, the original Wasp, played by Michelle Pfeiffer who was lost in the Quantum Realm years before the first. And actually, the Quantum Realm should also get some credit for this one. I've never seen something as complicated as quantum mechanics handled so beautifully, making it almost simple to understand. All in all if I even had a drawback for this movie it'd be the same one that the whole MCU faces now. With each film some of these become more inaccessible. There's at least 4 movies mandatory you have to see to fully appreciate this film. That number keeps growing. For me, I don't care, I love all these. I've seen them all, multiple times for that matter. For a newcomer though, at some point this might become overwhelming. We're not there yet with this one though. Great follow up. Especially if you look at it as just a comedy film sequel. There it stands with an elite few when it comes to comedy sequels. I do wish I would've seen this in 3D. I just feel like I missed something special there in the Quantum Realm. I would highly suggest a theater visit for this one. Prepare to laugh. When you're done let me know your thoughts. Put it in the comments, like, & share.
