Ant-Man and the Wasp

Score:  B+

Directed by Peyton Reed
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Pena
Running time: 118 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Ant-Man and the Wasp is the sequel to 2015's unlikely Marvel hit (at this point, a term that is becoming an oxymoron).  Paul Rudd is again the lead but, as the title indicates, Evangeline Lilly's Wasp is about an equal co-star, not to mention a smorgasbord of a supporting cast.  It's one of the funniest movies - Marvel or otherwise - in recent years, though its overall reach exceeds its grasp.  Still, it's outrageously entertaining and recommended to all.


Two years after helping Captain America, reformed criminal Scott Lang (Rudd) is under house arrest.  One night he has an odd, eerily vivid dream, and soon finds himself back in the company of old friends Pym (Douglas), an eccentric scientist, and his daughter Hope (Lilly).  Pym is searching for his wife who disappeared years ago after using one of his inventions and shrinking so small that she entered the quantum realm.  His wife, Janet, has managed to communicate with them through Scott, who had also briefly entered the quantum realm.  The trio is eager to get her back, especially when they find out they have only a matter of hours to do so.  Meanwhile, however, other forces have discovered the work that Pym, Hope and Scott have been developing on the quantum realm, and hope to use it for their own purposes.

Ant-Man and the Wasp welcomes back the core cast of the original film, and adds some great new actors as well.  Paul Rudd reprises his lead role as Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man.  The casting was a stroke of genius (as many of Marvel's choices have been): Ant-Man and his corner of the MCU are silly and lighter than others, and so Rudd's tremendous comedic talents are perfectly suited (not to mention his formidable overall acting skills).  The film's large and talented cast prevent him from being quite the focal point he was in the original, but he makes the most of his spotlight, from impressive physical humor as his size changes from 6 millimeters to 60 feet tall, to tender, quieter moments with his daughter.  Evangeline Lilly gets a much bigger role here as Hope, aka the "Wasp" in the title.  She is a very solid performer, though she lacks the unique traits that so many of her co-stars possess so it can be easy to underestimate her.  Nevertheless, she provides crucial grounding for the film, key to the film's heart and reason, not to mention pretty damn funny parts here and there.  Michael Pena fortunately returns as well as Luis, Scott's friend and former partner in crime (now partner in business).  Pena is a riot, stealing just about every scene he's in, but also maintaining a more solid character than just a joke machine (his partners are also back and also still hilarious).  Walton Goggins is the villain this time, and he is outstanding as usual in the role, fitting right in with the film's tone, too.  Michael Douglas's Pym is a welcome presence once again.  And there are yet more roles... Randall Park stands out as Scott's hilarious parole officer; Laurence Fishbourne is very good but underutilized, and Hannah John-Kamen is interesting as a mysterious foil, but is also underdeveloped.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is a really funny movie packed with lots of great ideas and characters - too many in fact, but it's still hugely entertaining and light-hearted.  It follows the general formula of many other sequels: the first having set the table by introducing the main characters (Scott, and Pym-Hope) and the settings or rules (technology that can manipulate the size of objects and people), the follow-up introduces new characters and plot points designed to maximize the features of the first.  It's far from a cash-grab, though: clearly much thought went into this, perhaps even too much.  The ostensible main plot is the effort to rescue Pym's wife from the quantum realm (basically, a strange new dimension).  However, there are also the obstacles of Scott's house arrest; then, Pym and Hope run into a villain whose parts they need for their tech; then, a character with new powers comes out of left field with an entirely different set of problems.  Each of these separately is interesting, and all things considered it's juggled about as well as can be expected.  Still, I would have cut the last of those parts and used it in a third Ant-Man film instead (which I hope there will be).  The techno-babble is also overwhelming at times - this from an MCU devotee - though fortunately you can mostly tune it out and still understand what's going on.  But enough with the nit-picking.  Marvel has made another hilarious film whose humor puts to shame most of the straight-up "comedies" these days.  Highlights include a child-size Scott (in adult-Scott clothes) running around a school; a drugged Luis being interrogated, Drunk History-style; and anything with Randall Park.  Everyone gets involved, and it just never stops (a good thing).  There's also some great action, though on a, well, much smaller scale (literally and figuratively) than other MCU films.  There's a great car chase scene in the last act, and the shrink-expand tricks continue to be clever and interesting throughout.  The stakes are more personal here, a nice change of pace from the epic Infinity War, and the villain is appropriately street-level and sarcastic.  If you're not entertained, you're not paying attention.

***

Ant-Man and the Wasp is another high-quality success for Marvel, even if it tries to pack in a little more than it can handle.  Although not one of the flashier parts of the MCU, 2015's Ant-Man established an important new setting and tone for the wider franchise, thanks to its silliness and sense of humor (though distinct from Guardians) and contained scope.  The sequel is a rousing romp through that world, its success only limited by having to split attention among so many different elements.  It also is a signal that the MCU can continue to flourish after the main core of Avengers characters (Iron Man, Capt. America, Thor) presumably bow out after next year's finale.  As with other MCU films, you'll obviously get maximum enjoyment out of it if you've seen the other films, too.  But I still don't hesitate to recommend it to others as well - sit back and let the special effects dazzle, and the humor make you laugh 'til your belly hurts.




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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Score:  B-

Directed by J.A. Bayona
Starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall
Running time: 128 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Fallen Kingdom is the fifth entry in the Jurassic dinosaur film franchise, one that continues to amp up the action - but diminish the overall quality.  Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard lead again, but of course it's the dinosaurs that are the real stars.  There are some massive, awe-inspiring sets, but at the cost of much of the series' trademark mystery and wonder.  The script and overall quality are weaker, too, but if you have a family in tow, it's still recommended.


Several years after the Jurassic World park was compromised and evacuated, Isla Nublar has returned to the headlines.  The island's volcano is set to erupt, possibly wiping out the only dinosaurs remaining on Earth.  While some, like Dr. Malcolm (Goldblum), prefer to let nature take its course, others, like Claire Dearing (Howard) and her Dinosaur Protection Group, want to save as many of them as possible.  Unable to get government support, Claire is relieved to find that Jurassic World's co-founder, Sir Lockwood (Cromwell), hopes to create a new island dinosaur sanctuary.  Although she has long since split up with him, Claire manages to get former park trainer Owen (Pratt) to accompany her to the island on the rescue mission.  As they race against the clock, they discover that there are others with more nefarious plans for the extraordinary yet deadly creatures.

Fallen Kingdom features the same co-stars from the last film, and introduces a slate of others who, for the most part, serve as dino fodder.  While Chris Pratt was Jurassic World's primary lead, this time he splits the focus pretty evenly with Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire.  It's still based on a clash of personalities, with Owen being the animal behavior expert, unsentimental save for the raptor he trained, and Claire being the more passionate, invested character.  However, Claire's motivation has swerved rather drastically: in Jurassic World, she fought to save the business of the park, and in Fallen Kingdom she has become an ardent conservationist with no thought to financial gain.  Bryce does a decent job selling it, but it's a pretty convenient flip-flop.  Meanwhile, Pratt is still fun but doesn't get nearly as much time; much more standard heroics as opposed to his unique deadpan wit.  The most significant new character is Lockwood's granddaughter, Maisie, essentially the latest version of the child-victim surrogate for the audience, and Eli Mills as Rafe is the new conniving villain; both are fine but forgettable.  Trailers and commercials teased the return of Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm, but it's essentially a cameo appearance.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an entertaining summer blockbuster, but it also accelerates its predecessor's shift away from the original, leaving the franchise with a questionable future.  Both in tone and in many plot elements, Fallen Kingdom is to Jurassic World what The Lost World was to Jurassic Park.  The majesty of the first, optimistic despite the inevitable collapse of the parks and the ensuing chaos, makes way for a darker tone through both a plot emphasizing the exploitation of the dinosaurs for (especially) bad purposes and thus the dangers posed by other humans.  Just like Jurassic World took the original's park-based formula and magnified its scope significantly, Fallen Kingdom does the same to The Lost World.  They're not just trying to take dinosaurs to a sanctuary, they're saving them from a Cataclysmic Event in the form of a volcano.  The bad guys are not just trying to start a new park, they are developing all new Genetic Monsters out of them and selling them to other bad guys around the world.  In trying to do so much, Fallen Kingdom loses almost all of the mystery and suspense that were crucial elements of the first two Jurassic films.  The camera lingers on the new, genetically-designed dino (an aspect already used in Jurassic World and thus less effective), and so it loses its menace quickly.  There are some effective, top-quality action scenes, like the pre-credits scene - taking place at night, in the rain, one of the few semi-unpredictable moments - and some clever, even amusing ones like a ram-headed dino causing chaos in a crowd.  But others, like the centerpiece set of dinos fleeing the erupting volcano, do more to show off what they can do with CGI now rather than creating tense (much less even slightly realistic) action - it also doesn't help that so much of it was in the advertising.  Oh, and don't even bother listening to the dialogue, which is among the most cringe-worthy of recent years.

***

Fallen Kingdom takes another step away from the original Jurassic Park, disappointing to us devotees of that film, but it still has considerable general entertainment value, particularly for younger audiences.  It's now clear that the Jurassic franchise is mirroring what happened to Star Wars.  The originals were released, and then after a long hiatus, a new set of films were made in an entirely different tone.  Jurassic Park and The Lost World of course showed how spectacular its dinosaurs were, but open melees were kept at a minimum in favor of more intimate, suspenseful sets; the target audience was adults and older children.  Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom is turning the franchise into a more family-oriented series; they accentuate the massive scenes of adventure and action and downplay the scares.  I'd also argue the new films are increasingly dumbed down and fantasized.  Still entertaining, certainly, just in a much different way.  So for families, I'd recommend this one; otherwise, go see it if you just want a big (if fairly simplistic) blockbuster.




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