Saturday 11 August 2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp - The scoop and digest

Peyton Reed's direct sequel follows Captain America: Civil War and prequels Avengers: Infinity War.

Paul Rudd - Scott Lang/Ant-Man
Evangeline Lilly - Hope van Dyne/Wasp
Michael Peña - Luis
Walton Goggins - Sonny Burch
Hannah John-Kamen - Ava Starr/Ghost
Michelle Pfeiffer - Janet van Dyne
Laurence Fishburne - Bill Foster
Michael Douglas - Hank Pym

30 years ago, Hope's mum and Pym's wife Janet van Dyne's efforts of disabling a nuclear missile trapped original Wasp inside the Quantum Realm.

Subsequently, poor cow is presumed dead.

Digitally 'de-aging' Douglas and Pfeiffer looks very convincing.

Present day.

As punishment for trashing airport with Captain America (violating Sokovia Accords), Scott Lang is serving remainder of house arrest.

After receiving a message from Janet, whom he is apparently 'quantumly entangled' with, Scott is kidnapped by Hope.

Believing her to be still alive, Hope and Pym have been building their own quantum tunnel.

Hope visits black market tech dealer Sonny Burch to buy final part, but when seller doesn't play nicely, a fight ensues.

During which, the mysterious Ghost crashes party and overpowers both Scott and Hope, and legs it with Pym's portable lab.

After meeting Pym's former partner Bill Foster (who hates the former's guts), backstory of Ghost (Eva Starr) is revealed.

During a quantum experiment, Eva's father bought it and caused unstable state.

Consequently, Eva is able to pass through matter (called quantum phasing), and if memory serves correctly, condition is called molecular disequilibrium, literally meaning cells were ripped apart and stitched back together.

Before S.H.I.E.L.D. went under, she was weaponised and trained as a stealth operative.

Lang helps Pym and Hope find the lab while Pym dives into the tunnel to locate Janet.

Sequence is very Fantastic Voyage, but it's probably more in tribute than blatant rip off.

Meanwhile, the gang fight Burch and Ava.

Safely returning from the realm, Janet gives Ava some energy to temporarily stabalize her.

Back home, Lang officially ends house arrest sentence, while Ava and Foster go into hiding.

Just before model credits begin rolling, Lang, along with Hope and Cassie, are watching Them!

Rather appropriate, yes?

Earlier, Lang briefly watched Animal House and sobbed reading The Fault in our Stars.

Mid-credits sees Pym, Hope and Janet send Lang inside a smaller quantum tunnel to collect human particles to completely heal now friend Ghost.

During which, trio have been reduced to ash, leaving Lang trapped inside the void.

Thanos - you little tinker.

Scene obviously takes place at the same time as Infinity War's climax.

Stay until the end and you'll see Lang's house eerily deserted, with ant banging the drums.

Insert Stone Roses joke here.

Message of 'Ant-Man and the Wasp will return?' teases us all.

How will this tie in with IW 2?

Prior to dive, Janet warns Lang not to get sucked into time vortex.

Hmmm.

Very antsome indeed

Unlike IW, 20th entry in MCU doesn’t tug on emotional heart strings.

Instead, we enjoy a fast and witty adventure, brimming with action, humour and charm.

Once again, Rudd puts in a great shift, and shares awesome chemistry with Lilly.

Pfeiffer takes a back seat to fellow Hollywood legend, but that's to be expected.

Shrinking and growing VFX, dubbed 'disco trails', are amazing.

Hero amusingly uses lorry as makeshift skateboard during enthralling highway chase and is also when obligatory Stan Lee cameo occurs.

References 

Giant-Man emerging from the sea may be a nod to Triton from Jason and the Argonauts.

Luis repeatedly states 'I'm the boss', just like Ant-Man does in Civil War.  Both could be reffing Raging Bull, even though in closing scene, De Niro chants 'I'm da boss'.

Fishburne's character Bill Foster is the same as Douglas's in Falling Down (D-Fens in credits).

More outlandish is this.

Eva and Foster kidnap Lang, Hope and Pym, and to escape, Pym fakes a heart attack, with Hope and Lang begging for his pills.

When 'passing through' a golf course, D-Fens blasts electronic cart, instigating golfer's heart attack.

Wearing that stupid little hat, victim also pleads for pills.

Situation may be reversed, but principle and/or coincidence remains.

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