I have to see Marvel movies in the cinema. It’s become such an overwhelming universe, seeing each instalment on the big screen seems like the only bet. I almost missed Ant-Man and the Wasp in theatres … and I think this says something about the nature of the movie itself in the broader universe. We’re currently in the process of ranking Marvel movies, and there’s a line under which I consider everything pretty bad. Ant-Man (2015) is above that line, but it’s not ranking particularly high.

I like the Ant-Man movies, but they’re inconsequential. The performances and the action is fun and engaging, but it’s doesn’t matter a whole lot once you leave the cinema. Ant-Man and the Wasp (dir. Peyton Reed) is no exception. But the takeaway point here should be that it’s fun and an enjoyable watch.

The performances are all good – there are no gaping duds. Paul Rudd is intensely likeable as Scott Lang. Like I argued with Chris Pratt, Rudd kind of has a ‘thing’, but for a start it’s less diluted through over-use than Pratt’s, and it’s also arguably a better ‘thing’ because he has better range. He’s funny, and self-effacing, and a genuinely accidental hero as Scott Lang. In neither film does Scott drive the action, he’s the pawn of Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne, and is just empathetic enough to want to help them achieve their goals.

Pym and van Dyne, played by Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly, meanwhile, are intriguing characters – intentional and deliberate. When Ant-Man and the Wasp begins they’ve been working for years while running from the authorities, after their (unknowing) complicity in the events in Captain America: Civil War (2016, dir. Anthony and Joe Russo) through Scott’s use of the Ant-Man suit. They’re pissed at Scott, but they’ve almost built to completion a device that can help them retrieve Janet van Dyne (a brief Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. The action in the sequel kicks off when they need Scott. I’d be interested in seeing what was happening in those years of making deals, building tech, and evading the FBI before they needed Scott again.

The supporting performances are good – Michael Peña has a stand-out hilarious sequence when he’s been injected with truth serum, a sequence that director Peyton Reed runs with – giving a high dose of humour that’s playable by other characters too. Randall Park as FBI officer Woo, responsible for checking in on Scott while he’s on house arrest, is scene-stealing – dry and quirky – and you kind of want he and Scott to just buddy up.

Not for nothing, this is the first Marvel movie with the name of a female protagonist in the title. Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne/The Wasp is therefore important to the history of cinema! Regardless of the slightly thankless role she gets in these films as no-nonsense, ‘straight woman’ to Scott’s funny guy. She does well with it. She’s Kate from Lost after all, she can do no-nonsense ass-kicking pretty perfectly at this stage, and there’s a scene in a hotel where she gets to take centre stage for a bit that allows her a bit of space from her male co-stars for once.

One of the problems though, is the plethora of slightly boring villains – Ghost (the powered villain), Walter Goggins (playing a smarmy black market tech dealer), and the FBI. At a few points through it I had to think to remember what the immediate villain threat was. In the end, it’s not really relevant. The villains aren’t really what’s important here. The credits promise the return of these characters – and that’s what’s important. Plus… the state of the world in the first post-credits scene…

Ant-Man and the Wasp is enjoyable but largely forgettable, which is fine, because it’s ENJOYABLE.

3/5