Ant-Man and the Wasp Blu-ray Review | Personal and Funny

By: Lynn Barker

Ant-Man and the Wasp, is set two years after Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) worked with the Avengers during the events of Captain America: Civil War. Scott is under house arrest since he stole the super suit from Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Feds are looking for Hank and scientist daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and they have gone into hiding. Scott is establishing a great relationship with young daughter Cassie ( Abby Rider Fortson) when Hank and Hope ask him to help them fight a new villain and rescue the first Wasp Janet Van Dyne who may still be alive.

Scott spends quality time with his daughterCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Flashback

Younger Hank Pym is with wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is also superhero the Wasp. With young daughter Hope, it’s a loving family but in trying to defuse a bomb, Janet has to go “sub-atomic” and super tiny to get inside the missile and becomes trapped in the Quantum Zone. Hank, then Ant-Man, thinks she is dead. Young Hope takes it very hard. In the present, Hope and Hank wonder if she might still be alive.

Hope and Hank want to get Hope's mom backCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Super Dad Scott

Scott spends hours on house arrest wearing an ankle tracker and living adventures with his daughter in make-shift tunnels he’s built inside his house. He’s the fun, perfect dad. His buddy and co-worker in Scott’s new security company Luis (Michael Pena) knows Scott can’t come to an important meeting because his house arrest doesn’t expire for three days. When Cassie isn’t home Scott does karaoke, folds origami, plays drums etc. At night, he dreams of the Quantum Realm and sees Janet there. She seems to take over his body. He phones Hank. The original Wasp is alive!

Scott realizes he's been kidnapped by HopeCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Kidnapping Scott

Hope knocks Scott out, puts his ankle tracker on Scott’s giant pet ant and drives him away in a tiny car. He apologizes for his antics with the Avengers. She wonders why he didn’t take her along. Inside an office building, Hope and Hank run a lab. They have built a tunnel and a pod to take them to the Quantum Realm hoping to rescue mom/wife Janet but they can’t keep the tunnel from overloading. Scott swears he can’t go to the Quantum Realm because he destroyed his Ant-Man suit. Hank is furious. Scott has to go back home because he’s due to get his monitor removed and the cops must find him there. We see a “ghostly” figure watching the trio leave.

Villain Sonny has the mini-labCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Baddie on the Black Market

Black market trader Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) who is supposed to sell Hope a component needed to keep the Quantum tunnel from overloading. He takes her money and demands she let him in on whatever she is building. He has buyers. Hope refuses, turns into the new Wasp and kicks butt bigtime. On her way out, however, she is attacked by the Ghost. Hank sends Ant-Man, wearing a prototype suit, in to help. Ghost takes off with the miniaturized lab building!

Ava/Ghost keeps phasing outCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Old Partner and the Ghost

Until they can find the lab building and enlarge it again, the trio hides at Scott’s security offices wondering who is this ghostly figure who can pass through objects phasing in and out. They go to Hank’s old lab partner Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) for help but he’s a surrogate dad to Ava Foster/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) who is unable to stop phasing between our world and the Quantum Realm. While FBI agent and Scott’s parole officer Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) tracks the trio, Scott admits that he did keep the original suit hidden inside a toy trophy that daughter Cassie has taken to school for show and tell.

In the Quantum RealmCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Ava and a Trophy Trek

With Hank’s new suit malfunctioning, making Scott huge then tiny without control, he gets inside the school (with hilarious results) and gets the trophy back. Using tips from Bill, the good guys find the lab and Ghost/Ava recovering in a chamber. She overpowers them telling Hank that she hates him for discrediting her dad Elias Storm who was working on a way to the Quantum Realm but his experiment exploded and all were killed except child Ava who was effected, thus the phasing and pain. S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited her as a stealth operative. Bill met and has tried to help her. She has only a week or two to live.

Hope and Scott discuss their new partnershipCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Grab the Lab

Our trio escapes with the help of ants and they grab the miniaturized building. Meanwhile Sonny confronts Luis looking for Scott and the lab. Sonny’s thug injects Luis with a type of truth serum and he tells “all” he knows…in detail. Woo gets closer as the group upsizes the lab and starts opening the tunnel to the Quantum Realm but it shuts itself down! Scott goes into a kind of trance and “becomes” Janet who guides him through fixing the tunnel. Hank will go in to find his wife but her location inside the Realm keeps shifting! 

Giant Ant-Man during the chaseCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Loose Lab

Ghost again grabs the lab, now tiny but Sonny ends up with it. After a crazy car chase in which giant Ant-Man uses a flatbed truck as a skateboard, huge Ant-man wades out into the bay to get the mini-lab back from Sonny who has boarded a ferry boat. Hank is able to enter the Quantum Realm in the pod but crashes. Can he get to Janet in time to bring her home? Will Scott be caught outside his house before he is due to be released? Can Janet heal the phasing Ghost? Will Sonny and/or the FBI stop the whole operation?

Evangeline and Paul suited up and on setCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Marvel Mid-Credits Scene - Hank and Janet have created a smaller and portable Quantum tunnel housed in the back of Luis’s van. Ant-Man uses it and is in the Quantum Realm when……something happens!!   There is also a short, cute shot at the very end of the credits.

Giant Ant-Man needs the lab backCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Special Extra Features

Extras on this home entertainment set are all entertaining if kind of short:

• Making Of Featurettes

1. Back in the Ant Suit: Scott Lang- Silliness on set with Paul Rudd being very funny and Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas and Michael Pena talking about him. Paul talks about playing the character and the director loves working with him. Sweet.
2. A Suit of Her Own: The Wasp – Evangeline Lilly loved putting on the suit as much as her character Hope did. She feels like a superhero at last. We see Evangeline doing stunts and get details on the suit. Nice

Evangeline practices her action workCourtesy of Marvel Studios

1. Sub-Atomic Super Heroes: Frank and Janet concentrates of Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer who loves being in the Quantum Realm and working with each other. Evangeline always wanted Michelle to play Hope’s mom. Fun!

Michael Douglas as Hank PymCourtesy of Marvel Studios

1. Quantum Perspective: VFX and Production Design gives us details on Frank’s lab, the Quantum Gate and shooting in different locations. Fun but it doesn’t really show us how they do all the micro and macro shifting shots.

• Gag Reel and Outtakes is the usual fun making faces, dancing, suit malfunctions and we get Stan Lee recording many versions of his cameo one-liners.. funny.
• Deleted Scenes – There are only 2 and they are short. One deals with Janet and Hank in the Quantum Realm. Another with the villain trying to learn more about Scott. Okay.
• Audio Commentary by Director Peyton Reed has him detailing every part of the story, how certain scenes were made, the movie’s themes and the final end credits scene that connects Ant-Man and The Wasp to Infinity War.

Director Peyton Reed with Paul and Evangeline on setCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Wrapping Up

As we said in our feature film review: Ant-Man and the Wasp is certainly the funniest Marvel movie since Thor: Ragnarok and fans needed fun after the very dark “Infinity Wars”. The stakes aren’t universal in the film but very personal and, that too, is refreshing. Action sequences involving teeny and giant Ant-Man and Wasp are creative and fun to watch. The car chase over San Francisco hills involves a giant Hello Kitty Pez dispenser and a flatbed truck used as a skateboard. What’s not to love?

Ant-Man and Wasp to the rescueCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Ghost as a baddie is rather weak but Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is lovable and so hilarious. Evangeline Lilly makes a great partner for him. The extras on this Blu-ray/Digital set are all entertaining but not very long and we could always use more outtakes and goofs. Commentary is insider informative. We go four stars.

Ant-Man and the Wasp Blu-ray Rating: 

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Buy Ant-Man and the Wasp starting Tuesday, October 16th

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