Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Pena, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins and Michael Douglas

Directed by Peyton Reed

Disney, out August 2 (UK)

 

Scott Lang is under house arrest following his interaction with the Avengers, but that doesn’t stop him from helping Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym embark on a rescue mission to retrieve mother/wife Janet from the quantum realm.

Nobody really expected Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man to be any good, arriving in the wake of original director Edgar Wright’s departure, and yet it was an unexpected joy, a lower-key Marvel movie more interested in family than universe-worrying drama. And so too does Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, which now adds Evangeline (Lost/The Hobbit) Lilly’s superhero to the mix. As we’ve come to expect from modern female superheroes, she’s no sidekick waiting to be rescued, holding her own and saving her male counterparts multiple times.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet was lost in the quantum realm thirty years ago, sacrificing herself to complete a mission, and it’s only when she makes contact via Paul Rudd’s Scott that her family realise there’s a way to reach her. Along the way there’s a boo-hiss black market tech dealer (Walton Goggins) and his goons, a hilarious FBI agent (Randall Park), the mysterious Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Laurence Fishburne as a former colleague of Hank, and Scott trying to be a good father to his daughter.

It all whizzes along with a joie de vivre, and you’re never more than a minute away from another joke or fun set piece. San Francisco’s landmarks are used to great effect as a miniature car buzzes up and down Russian Hill (as in Bullitt), the multiple switchbacks of Lombard Street get showcased, and there’s multiple views of Coit Tower and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Michael Pena is also back as ex-con Luis, trying to make a honest living in the security trade, and to all our delight has another of those scenes where he recalls conversations in flashback, overlaying his own speech pattern to hilarious effect. Oh, and it’s essential that you stay for the first half of the end credits if only to see the highly original effect that is used and to watch a very relevant additional scene. You can skip waiting to the very end as that’s just a silly gag.

Verdict: As a summer blockbuster it’s ideal, a perfect two hours of fun for the family. There’s a lot going on, and it’s all very silly, but what a great palette cleanse after the gloom of Infinity War… for now! 9/10

Nick Joy