Very enjoyable! Pretty simple and straightforward plot but a very fun ride much like the first film.
Many of the elements that made the original so endearing are still present in this one. Cute moments between Scott and his daughter Cassie, the bickering Father, Son, Daughter dynamic with Hank, Scott and Hope, Scott's trio of burgar buddies and humor and levity that work more often than not.
Scott's buddies were not quite as integral to the plot this time around but still had their moments and Luis of course got to do another of his fast talking rundowns which got a big laugh from my theater audience.
Hope/Evangeline Lilly was really good and actually might have stolen the show as she was a bit more front and center than Scott which makes sense considering the plot revolved around rescuing her Mom from the Quantum Realm. Her, Rudd and Douglas have good chemistry together.
The action set pieces and fight scenes were all pretty exciting and a step up from the first. The car chase in the final act was a lot of fun and the fights between Hope and Ghost were fast and hard hitting. Giant Man scootering after Sonny Burch on a flatbed truck and Ghost fazing through the cars were a couple of my favorite bits.
Probably the most surprising thing about this film was that it didn't really feature a true villain. Ghost wasn't really a bad person, she was caught in a freak accident, used by the government and simply sought the means to cure her life threatening condition. Sonny Burch was just the typical slimey corporate goon looking to cash in on new tech. Ordinarily lack of a true sinister villain would be a point of contention but it honestly didn't bother me too much. With each party in it for their own reasons it ended being more of a race to catch the MacGuffin (Pym's lab building) which proved to be entertaining. I really like the design for Ghost's costume too. It will be interesting to see if she returns down the line given that she seems to have been cured at the end. With that said, given the lack of a true threat I was kinda expecting that there might be some cosmic baddie lurking in the Quantum Realm waiting for its opportunity to escape but alas that didn't materialize.
I always liked Walton Goggins as an actor. It's a shame he hasn't really gotten a meatier role in movies thus far. For anyone who's seen "The Shield" or "Justified", he's really good when he has a role to sink his teeth into. I liked that he was in the film even though he didn't have a lot to work with.
Speaking of the Quantum Realm, that was my favorite sequence in the first film with its beautiful and trippy visuals. It was certainly cool to visit again but naturally it didn't have quite the same awe factor as the first go around. Still nonetheless visually striking. I thought the area where Hank found Janet was visually similar to the Dark Dimension from Dr. Strange but with less purples and magentas. Also I guess there's oxygen in the Quantum Realm as both Hank and Janet had their helmets off briefly?
Those expecting to see some fallout from Infinity War will be disappointed with the exception
. The events of this film seem to take place concurrently or just before the events of IW. This is probably the most standalone film Marvel has done lately and doesn't rely heavily on referencing other MCU films except AM1 or course and CW primarily.
Credit Scenes - The first credit scene was good although you could kinda guess what was coming. The second one was a waste plus it was shown in the first trailer IIRC. I remember reading a couple of the Twitter reactions that said both credit scenes were "can't miss", I guess they must have seen something different because the second one was definitely pointless.
I've mentioned many times before Marvel's inconsistency with retaining composers with their sequels so I was quite glad that Christophe Beck stayed on board. I really dug the Ant-Man theme from the original so it's nice to have it back in full force for this one.
All and all a pretty decent second outing for the Ant-Man gang. I really liked it. If you felt a little depressed after Infinity War's bleak ending, this ought to pick up your spirits.
