Ant-Man and the Wasp (12A) ****
Dir: Peyton Reed
With: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas
Runtime: 118 minutes
SOMEONE said the other day that it had not been too bad a midge season in Scotland this year. A cynic would say the insect kingdom was softening us up for the arrival of Marvel’s entomological blockbuster.
It is not needed. Peyton Reed’s follow up to his 2015 success hits the mark in a variety of ways. First, there is the always likeable Paul Rudd playing Scott Lang, the ex-con turned good guy turned Ant-Man when the situation requires. Then there is Evangeline Lilly (Lost) as his partner in fighting crime. The visual gags as Ant-Man flips from tiny to normal to huge work a treat, and last, but defiantly not least, there’s Michael Douglas, the old double Oscar-winner himself, heroically keeping a straight face despite some of the daft lines he has to deliver.
In this instalment, Ant-Man is called upon to help in the search for a special someone who has been lost for 30 years in the mysterious quantum realm. Can our flying hero change his unreliable ways and rescue this VIP?
Reed keeps the tale running along at a great lick, which helps with the usual overlong running time. Wisely, he makes a lot of space for Ant-Man’s USP: its self-mocking humour. Every comic book hero movie attempts to laugh at its own ridiculousness, but only Ant-Man is truly serious about the task. It is a measure of how slyly funny the picture is that the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, usually an occasion to grin and bear it, is genuinely amusing. Worth a punt if you are looking for a last cinema hurrah with the family before the school holidays end.
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