Like many of the other Marvel films, Ant-Man and the Wasp does a fantastic job of pulling the audience right into the story. The pre-credits scene consists of nothing other than Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym and Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne/Wasp quickly refreshing the audience's memory of what took place in the first film and preparing them for what was going to take place over the course of this one. Being the follow-up film to Avengers: Infinity War (2018) must have been a difficult task, so, jumping right into the thick of things was a smart idea. Leaving the audience hanging for even twenty minutes could have potentially left them bored and unamused and I believe that Payton Reed and each of the writers did a wonderful job of avoiding this potential issue. The story in this film, like nearly every other Marvel Cinematic Universe film, is fun and addicting, however, it is the cast that holds the film together. In each and every MCU film the characters are relatable through their humor. Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man and Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon are prime examples of the humor that Kevin Feige and the rest of the MCU work horses bring to the big screen, but the combination of Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, Michael Peña’s Luis, T.I.’s Dave and David Dastmalchian’s Kurt (and, the addition of Randall Park’s Jimmy Woo was a sensational one to this already stellar cast) seriously rivals that of the other MCU characters (some of the best parts of the Ant-Man films, to date, are when Luis narrates some asinine story just barely relevant to the plot). This combination of characters is what makes these films so enjoyable. While many critics and fans believe that Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava/Ghost is one of the best (and possibly the best) MCU villains to date, I did not find this to be true. However, while I do not believe that she was the best--especially directly following Josh Brolin’s Thanos--I do feel that she was a relatable and incredibly enjoyable character. I think what made her so enjoyable was the fact that she possessed this sense of urgency and that she was very literally fighting for her life. Moreso, John-Kamen fully embodied her dark and desperate character, making her that much more amusing. Ant-Man and the Wasp took CGI to an entirely new level. I felt that this film’s computer generated images were flawless like no other film I’ve seen before. Ghost constantly phased in and out throughout the course of the film and the impeccable transition from solid to nothing (for a lack of a better way to explain it) is what made everything believable. Likewise, the transition of Wasp and Ant-Man from small to large was similarly flawless. After my first time viewing this film I felt that it did not really compare to the first film, however, after watching a second time (and being far removed from Avengers: Infinity War) I felt that this was a magnificently successful sequel to the 2015 film. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5095030/?ref_=nv_sr_1
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