• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Beatles Usa 1964

      50 years ago the Beatles said "The End"

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 31, 2019
      Music
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    REVIEW: Ant-Man and the Wasp is the best grandma ever

    By Matthew Martin
    | July 6, 2018
    Movie Reviews

    Can we designate Ant-Man as the official post-Avengers palate cleanser?

    Three years ago, Avengers: Age of Ultron was a heavy, lengthy movie that teased the break-up of the team and dealt with some weighty stuff. Ant-Man came out a few months later and reminded us what Marvel movies typically are; light and breezy, fun and funny. Here we are three years later and Infinity War makes Age of Ultron look like Sesame Street. It’s two months later and though the dust has settled, the shock of the ending has not subsided. It arguably cast a pall over the rest of May, ushering in a slightly subdued box office for Deadpool 2 and a crippling of Solo.

    Ant-Man and the Wasp had the important task that previously fell on its predecessor, to remind Marvel fans that it’s not all doom and gloom. Fun can be had and Ant-Man is the perfect guy (and Wasp the perfect woman) to carry that torch.

    Fortunately, like the original, the movie nails its role.

    Ant Man Wasp Poster

    Unlike Thor, whose humor is derived from his own aloofness, and unlike Iron Man, with his sardonic personality, Ant-Man’s Scott Lang is a funny man who knows he’s a funny man, doesn’t brush his humor off as being cool (because he knows he’s not cool) but uses it instead as a tension-defuser. Because unlike Thor and Iron Man, Scott Lang knows he’s no remarkable hero. He’s a screw-up, and though you can point to many examples where Thor and Iron Man have screwed up (sometimes with hugely disastrous consequences), it feels different when they do it. It’s probably because those guys project such tremendous confidence and charisma, they spellbound you into thinking they’ve got things under control even while they’re in the middle of putting out a fire they started moments earlier.

    Scott Lang does not project such confidence.

    Ant Man Wasp Paul Rudd Evangeline Lilly

    Ant Man Wasp Paul Rudd Evangeline Lilly 2

    The movie knows this too and they make a virtue out of it, building its entire story around the fact that Ant-Man can’t go five feet without tripping over his shoelaces. You can quibble that the movie goes a bit overboard with the “Scott’s a screw-up” concept, especially after he was reasonably successful in Civil War, but I will handwave it on account that the movie’s heart is in the right place; if it wasn’t part of a story they were trying to tell I’d wag my finger at it and call it a continuity error, but I appreciate that there’s a theme to this story. The first Ant-Man was a heist film, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a film about teamwork.

    —LIGHT SPOILERS—

    Ant Man Wasp Paul Rudd Evangeline Lilly 3

    Ant-Man and the Wasp is not a direct sequel to the first Ant-Man; it’s a pick-up where Civil War left off. At the end of the first movie, everything is happy and wonderful. Ant-Man is established as a new hero, he’s got a purpose in life, he’s got a girlfriend. It was a very phase-one sort of movie. In Civil War, you’re given no indication that anything is askew. Captain America needs help, Ant-Man does his thing, gets caught but it’s okay because Cap broke them out in the end. Scott gets a passing mention in Infinity War that he took a deal with the Feds but that’s it; there’s no hint of anything dramatic there.

    Turns out, there is: Scott’s actions in Civil War resulted in his being estranged by Hank Pym and his daughter Hope. Scott is on a very restricted and closely monitored house arrest, and though he’s trying to make the best of it, the frustrations with his isolation are obvious. When he finally does reconnect with Hank and Hope they’re less than enthused to see him and mostly berate him for being a screw-up who forced them to be on the run from the government (guilt by association). Still, they need his help, he needs theirs and the movie’s theme of teamwork comes into focus.

    Funnily enough, the movie’s plot plays out more like a superhero romcom than anything else. Think about it: Screw-up guy is given one more chance with girl he let get away, promises he won’t screw up again, screws up again, then has to work double-time to make everything right to win her back. That’s a romcom. That’s Ant-Man and the Wasp.

    It’s not the weightiest movie. It’s not super serious or dramatic. It’s a breezy two hours. It’s just what we need after *snap.*

    —(SPOILER-FILLED) STRAY THOUGHTS—

    Ant Man Wasp Hannah John Kamen Ava Ghost

    • The original movie introduced becoming an “ant” man, Civil War gave us a “giant” man. I didn’t expect there to be a third option but then we discovered “kid-sized” man. Watching Scott run around like a hobbit, leaping into the van, while Hank Pym says “hey champ, how was school?”…I’m laughing right now just thinking about it.
    • As someone whose first movie-crush was Catwoman from Batman Returns, watching Paul Rudd channel Michelle Pfieffer might have been the most oddly-arousing thing I have ever seen.
    • Every “funny” Marvel movie has one scene that steals the show and leaves the audience in stitches; for my audience, it was the Truth Serum scene. I’m just glad they brought back the “Michael Peña tells a story” gag from the first movie.
    • I really thought they were telegraphing a Giant Man vs Goliath fight, especially after they revealed Dr. Foster was helping Ghost. It didn’t happen and I’m satisfied with the direction they took things, but still, I was ready for that fight. Maybe we get something similar in the next sequel.
    • Speaking of, Ghost ended up a surprisingly strong villain with a solid motivation. The trailers presented her as just a one-note “bad guy with a better suit” but instead they made her “power” a weakness that she exploits. Really clever.
    • Very underplayed but very effective Stan Lee cameo.
    • Do we talk about that mid-credits scene? Holy cow what an eerie shot that was, seeing the extended Ant-Man family dusted. I expected Hank and Janet to go, but not Hope. A quick mention of time-travel seems to be the biggest Avengers 4 teaser the movie offered. We’ll see.
    •  It was probably a big nothing burger to 99% of the audience, but seeing Hank Pym suit up and “go on a mission” was a real treat for my eleven-year-old son; Hank Pym’s Ant-Man is his favorite superhero ever and he had the biggest grin on his face just watching Hank in the Quantum Realm.

    Ant Man Wasp Big Paul Rudd

    —END SPOILERS—

    Gif Thor Piss Off Ghost

    9/10 – A light, funny romp about a guy who talks to ants and who can grow 50ft tall is just what I needed after the somber ending to Infinity War.

    It wasn’t epic. The fate of the world was not at stake. It was light mayo but it was great for what it was: Lots of fun. Recommended for fans.

    It’s Marvel; what more do you need? See it.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    Ant-ManComic Book MoviesMarvelMCU

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    10 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Rebel
    Rebel
    4 years ago

    I think there is too much hugging of Scott’s wife’s new partner, one is enough for the whole movie. I will feel awkward if I was in Scott’s position. As for the story, I think they made a good outcome having saved Mrs. Pym.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago

    That’s a solid score. I’ll use my spare time to see the first movie and catch up with this one in the theater. I don’t disagree with your comments; being a hero is equal to saving the whole world from some crazy cosmic power these days. Having a hero who focuses on the smaller things may bring the fresh air that we don’t know we need.

    0
    Reply
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    4 years ago

    I will score the 7/10. I may be expecting a lot out of it, but I’m just not a fan of Ant-Man. The Wasp made more of the action scenes than Ant-Man and it seems to me that he did not improve on his martial arts skill.

    0
    Reply
    Bigfoot
    Bigfoot
    4 years ago

    I skipped off the spoilers as I’m planning to watch this during weekdays. I don’t like watching it with too much crowd. The review made me want to see the movie clips of Thor and Iron Man’s screw ups.

    0
    Reply
    KeeperofUnicorns
    KeeperofUnicorns
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Bigfoot

    Same. We’re waiting a bit for heading to the theater. At least this one sounds a little different than the others. Ant-man is usually pretty funny, so I’m looking forward to that.

    0
    Reply
    Bigfoot
    Bigfoot
    4 years ago
    Reply to  KeeperofUnicorns

    My enthusiasm got the best of me because the movie didn’t reach the bar I set for it. It wasn’t bad because I like the rescue of Pym’s wife. It wasn’t that good for me because Scott did not improve on his fighting skills.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Bigfoot

    It did seem like your expectations got in the way of the experience. Without knowing what kind of story I should expect, I had fun with the two movies. The sequel worked better than the previous one as everyone found their personal style and went all out. Simple, light, but it hits the tone right.

    Do you think we will get a third movie?

    0
    Reply
    Bigfoot
    Bigfoot
    4 years ago
    Reply to  MidNight

    I won’t be expecting a 3rd movie. I don’t know how and where they will go for the third one as Mrs. Pym has been rescued already. However, I would expect a crossover movie with Spiderman. A spider catching insects, that will be a good one.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Bigfoot

    I’m not sure if Marvel is willing to play with the latest Spider-Man’s timeline to accommodate such crossover, but it’s a fun idea worth trying!

    Did you see the mid-credits scene? If they show us something like that but have no plan of continuing, they are really bad.

    0
    Reply
    Rouge
    Rouge
    4 years ago
    Reply to  MidNight

    Marvel really knows how to create a mid-credits scene to keep us waiting for the next release. They seem confident about making a sequel. It’s just that they seem to have a fixed plan for the MCU, and I don’t know if Ant-Man is vital enough for the conclusion.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • ANT-MAN Review: Phase One and a Half (with mild spoilers)

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 20, 2015
    • Avengers: Infinity War SPOILER-FILLED thoughts and reflections

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 27, 2018
    • Review: Avengers – Age of Ultron (contains spoilers)

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 29, 2015
    • Captain America: Civil War discussion and review (with spoilers)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 4, 2016
    • Lesson learned: Four observations from the Fantastic Four fallout

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 30, 2015
    • On Disney buying Fox: Bringing Fantastic Four home

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 15, 2018
    • On Disney owning Fox: Bringing the X-Men home

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 26, 2018

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Movie Topics

    Recommended for you

    • REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
    • Spirited Away remains Studio Ghibli’s “greatest” film

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 16, 2022
    • Read the Book Instead: The most disappointing book-to-film adaptations

      By Oliver Johnston
      | September 20, 2021
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz