‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ delivers small-sized thrills

Marvel has returned to the big screen with one of its smallest of stories “Ant-Man and the Wasp” the sequel to the 2015 “Ant-Man.” After a series of ambitious productions since the beginning of their third phase of films, how does this entry hold up?

The film follows Scott Lang  on his last few days of his two year long house arrest following the events of “Captain America: Civil War.” Things soon turn around for him as his colleagues from the last film, Hank Pym and Hope, bring him out from hiding, believing that a certain vision Lang has could help them find Hope’s mom from the quantum realm. At the same time, a new group of baddies is also out for Pym’s technology for their own reasons. So Ant-Man must suit up — along with the help of Hope, now as the Wasp — to protect the tech while keeping Lang safe from the police.

For a film coming from a such a simple predecessor, this entry tries to pack a lot more into its narrative — with some mixed results. Seeing the consequences of Pym’s involvement with the Avengers in “Civil War” is handled fairly well, but could have been more intriguing. Much like “Thor: Ragnarok,” any potential depth given its premise is mostly sacrificed in order to tell jokes, although not to the extent as “Ragnarok.”

The various subplots do weigh down on the film’s pacing at times, especially one about Walton Goggins as one of the main villains. This subplot is particularly unnecessary, other than to add extra drama to the third act and could have been cut out completely. The other villain of the film, known as Ghost, has an interesting backstory but her character is not developed very well and her conclusion feels rather rushed.

The film’s final act tends to drag. While it does contain some fun moments, it doesn’t feel as streamlined as it could have. There are also a number of plot holes that come up that don’t feel explained enough.

With all that said, this is still a painless experience. The same humor, likable cast and creative action from the first film is back. So fans of the predecessor are sure to be satisfied, even if not much is done to develop these elements.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” has its share of problems that could outweigh the positives for some, but it’s hard to stay mad at a film like this. For those who want a nice palette cleanser after the previous installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is sure to do you good. But for anyone hoping for anything more than a predictable Marvel experience (even down to the post-credit scenes), then this is a definite skip.