Let's talk about what the MCU has done in the past year. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. I'm fudging a little bit because GotG Vol. 2 came out in May, but roll with it. Now we'll talk about what the MCU has done right in the past year.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
I have no hesitation in saying that the past 14 months have been the best 14 months of the MCU thus far. Capping this whole thing off with Ant-Man and the Wasp was perfect, even if it does do one little thing that kinda annoyed me. This movie breaks the chronology. It takes place before Avengers: Infinity War.
In technical terms that means it is also able to maintain the same kind of tone as the first Ant-Man, which was frankly amazing, so I'm not really ready to complain about it. But I was really eager to see what the MCU would look like in a post-snap world, and now I'll have to wait until 2019 to find out. It's a minor niggle, and frankly the only niggle I've got.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is fantastic. The story is solid, the character work really well handled, and the way they extend the application of the Pym Particle is very interesting from a sci-fi perspective. Where the first movie felt unique among its MCU counterparts by virtue of being largely a heist movie, this one manages that same feat by simply not giving us the bad guy we were expecting. Is there a villain? Hmm... yes. And it's not like it's not who you expect, it's just... well, you'll have to watch the movie to see what I'm talking about. It's just really cool that our heroes manage to be heroic on multiple levels, and they manage to do it without too much collateral property damage or getting arrested at the end.
I'm looking at you, Civil War. This is me judging some of your many sins. If Ant-Man and the Wasp can pull it off, you've got no excuse.
Specifically I want to call out Evangeline Lilly, who stepped into her role as the Wasp like she was born for it, and who was absolutely way more fun to watch in the fight scenes than Paul Rudd's Ant-Man (who was, intentionally, mostly just funny). She had lots of complex motivations to sell to the audience as well, most of the characters did, but by far I give her props for doing it the best.
Paul Rudd was no slouch, either, but his character was written more statically, with most of the development happening around him. Which was fine, because his character was also written hysterically, and Paul Rudd can do hysterical. I laughed out loud on many, many occasions. They also brought back the rest of the ensemble from Ant-Man's original heist, and yes, Luis gets one of his solid re-cap scenes. And it's every bit as good as they were in the first movie.
And of course the rest of the humor was on point. Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas acting as the "straight man" to a lot of the jokes was perfect (Lilly's "are you serious" face is a flawless counter to Rudd's silliness). They even managed to drench an enormous pile of exposition in humorous conversation ("Thanks, I'm also a youth pastor") that allowed the audience to get a much needed reminder of prior MCU movies while also hanging a lantern on the fact that the MCU has gotten pretty convoluted and making the audience laugh.
That was some effective use of dialogue, right there. Served three distinct purposes.
In the end I don't know that I liked Ant-Man and the Wasp better than Thor: Ragnarok, but it's definitely close. For my money it easily beats out Infinity War and Black Panther (as excellent as those both were) to become the best MCU movie of 2018. And with the streak that the MCU is on...
Guys, I really just can not wait for Captain Marvel.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
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| This poster is still winning 2018, no battle |
I have no hesitation in saying that the past 14 months have been the best 14 months of the MCU thus far. Capping this whole thing off with Ant-Man and the Wasp was perfect, even if it does do one little thing that kinda annoyed me. This movie breaks the chronology. It takes place before Avengers: Infinity War.
In technical terms that means it is also able to maintain the same kind of tone as the first Ant-Man, which was frankly amazing, so I'm not really ready to complain about it. But I was really eager to see what the MCU would look like in a post-snap world, and now I'll have to wait until 2019 to find out. It's a minor niggle, and frankly the only niggle I've got.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is fantastic. The story is solid, the character work really well handled, and the way they extend the application of the Pym Particle is very interesting from a sci-fi perspective. Where the first movie felt unique among its MCU counterparts by virtue of being largely a heist movie, this one manages that same feat by simply not giving us the bad guy we were expecting. Is there a villain? Hmm... yes. And it's not like it's not who you expect, it's just... well, you'll have to watch the movie to see what I'm talking about. It's just really cool that our heroes manage to be heroic on multiple levels, and they manage to do it without too much collateral property damage or getting arrested at the end.
I'm looking at you, Civil War. This is me judging some of your many sins. If Ant-Man and the Wasp can pull it off, you've got no excuse.
Specifically I want to call out Evangeline Lilly, who stepped into her role as the Wasp like she was born for it, and who was absolutely way more fun to watch in the fight scenes than Paul Rudd's Ant-Man (who was, intentionally, mostly just funny). She had lots of complex motivations to sell to the audience as well, most of the characters did, but by far I give her props for doing it the best.
Paul Rudd was no slouch, either, but his character was written more statically, with most of the development happening around him. Which was fine, because his character was also written hysterically, and Paul Rudd can do hysterical. I laughed out loud on many, many occasions. They also brought back the rest of the ensemble from Ant-Man's original heist, and yes, Luis gets one of his solid re-cap scenes. And it's every bit as good as they were in the first movie.
And of course the rest of the humor was on point. Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas acting as the "straight man" to a lot of the jokes was perfect (Lilly's "are you serious" face is a flawless counter to Rudd's silliness). They even managed to drench an enormous pile of exposition in humorous conversation ("Thanks, I'm also a youth pastor") that allowed the audience to get a much needed reminder of prior MCU movies while also hanging a lantern on the fact that the MCU has gotten pretty convoluted and making the audience laugh.
That was some effective use of dialogue, right there. Served three distinct purposes.
In the end I don't know that I liked Ant-Man and the Wasp better than Thor: Ragnarok, but it's definitely close. For my money it easily beats out Infinity War and Black Panther (as excellent as those both were) to become the best MCU movie of 2018. And with the streak that the MCU is on...
Guys, I really just can not wait for Captain Marvel.
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