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ANT-MAN AND THE WASP — Review by Susan Granger

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After assisting Captain America and disobeying the Sokovia Accords, goofball Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) – a.k.a. Ant-Man – has been under house arrest for two years, devising elaborate games to play with his 10 year-old daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) while his cronies (Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris) run their security-consultant business. Continue reading…

Meanwhile, his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) has discovered that his long-lost, miniaturized wife, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), has been trapped for 30 years in the sub-atomic Quantum Realm, the miniscule space between the molecules.
So Hank and his skeptical daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) – a.k.a. The Wasp – smuggle Scott out of the house to help rescue Janet because he once mind-melded with her and their quantum psychic connection remains.

“Do you guys just put the word ‘quantum’ in front of everything?” Scott inquires.

While mutating in size, Scott and Hope arouse the ire of several villains, including shimmery Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) – a.k.a. Ava Starr – who, along with disgruntled former colleague Dr. Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), covets Dr. Pym’s technology, as does black-marketer Sonny Burch (Walter Groggins).

And they’re all doggedly pursued through the treacherous streets of San Francisco by persistent F.B.I./S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Jimmy Woo (Randall Park).

Scripted by five different writers (Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barber & Gabriel Ferrari), it’s directed by Peyton Reed as the first MCU movie featuring a female superhero’s name in the title. (Wonder Woman, as you probably know, is in DC Comics and the rival Justice League.)

FYI: in order to play himself as a young father/original Ant-Man, Michael Douglas underwent an amazing digital facelift, as did Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne.

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, Ant-Man and the Wasp flits in with a sweetly shrinking, surreal 7. Wait for the two end-credit sequences.

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Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.