SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ nothing special, but worth seeing Rudd, Lilly

Jul 6, 2018, 8:45 AM | Updated: 8:47 am

Michael Medved’s review as heard on Seattle’s Morning News, KIRO Radio. 

Ant-Man, played by Paul Rudd, is a former thief who is taken in as part of the crew involved with an exiled inventor, scientist – Hank Pym – played by Michael Douglas. Douglas is, at first, difficult to recognize playing, really, for the first time, in an old man role. He has a daughter (Wasp), played by Evangeline Lilly.

The best part of the movie is in the longing looks and obvious growing attraction between Ant-Man and the Wasp. She, also like Ant-Man, can be shrunk into this little figure. They’re equipped with suits that can either make them grow enormous — as happens to Ant-Man on several occasions — or shrink down to a microscopic level.

Their true mission, aside from keeping their various technology out of the hands of bad guys, is to go back into the quantum universe to rescue Michelle Pfeiffer, who is the Wasp’s mother. She’s the long-lost wife of Pym, who apparently got shrunken and has been lost in the quantum universe for 20 or 30 years.

It’s some of the same appeal as the first Ant-Man, but with a goofier, even harder-to-follow plot.

It’s hard to imagine there will be long-term Ant-Man fans the same way there are Spider-Man or Captain America or Iron Man fans. It’s much like a Deadpool fan base with the difference being that Deadpool is not appropriate for little kids.

A film as elaborate as this, that has a lot of special effects, chase scenes, and a whole laboratory that is shrunk down, has thousands of people in the credits. And that’s why it takes you awhile to get to the tantalizing scene at the end.

This is a two-star, PG-13 movie with mild violence that can’t be taken seriously and just mediocre special effects. Don’t bother spending the extra cash on 3-D.

Michael Medved’s review as heard on Seattle’s Morning News, KIRO Radio. 

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‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ nothing special, but worth seeing Rudd, Lilly