This film knows its own strength and weakness just like Thor: Ragnarok where they both share that similarity. Hope you guys seen it already because I am not going to explain that film.
After watching the first few minutes of the film you are expected to know the main story is to get Hope’s mom out of the quantum realm. Like Thor: Ragnarok, its loses its focus on the villain.
a) The FBI chase Ant-Man making sure he stays in his house cause he is on house arrest.
b) Ghost who is not so evil want to use Hank Pym’s technology to cure herself of her powers.
c) Gang of criminals who wants Hank Pym’s technology to sell it to the black market.
I guess the people behind making films don’t want to make this dramatic because audiences already seen Infinity Wars. I don’t mind the tone but I feel people want a developed and more focused villain for Ghost.
When Ghost origins was revealed it created a plot hole in the MCU.
Shield founded her back before it fell apart which took place in Winter Soldier. If Hydra was in control why did they not use her to take on Captain America? I feel that they could avoid that plot-hole by saying she was taken by the CIA, FBI, or some other government agency for experiment.
Problems with Ant-Man and the Wasp is mainly the plot
The story drags out here and there. Ant-Man and the Wasp retrieves his old suit in Cassie’s classroom. It feels like filler. The filler kinda reminds of Star Wars: Last Jedi where Finn and Rose finds a hacker who later betrays them. Finding the old suit has comedy cause Ant-Man looks like a toddler in that scene. I don’t mind if this part was there but I expect the film to be a bit longer to have better pacing and to keep the main story at a good length.
The story could have ended halfway if Lang did not tell Luis his location but I guess it would be more horrifying to watch if the gang tortured Luis to call Lang. Maybe Lang should have realised and tell his prison mates and his family to go into hiding because they are collateral damage.
The story feels lazy as there are no REAL villains in this film. They should have made Ghost threatful enough to the point where Ant-Man and the Wasp have to stop her because they were absent during Infinity Wars. Speaking of Infinity Wars...
Another plot hole for this film. From my previous reason, Ant-Man and the Wasp should have been there in Wakanda fighting alongside with the Avengers. The mid-credit scenes shows Hank, Hope, and Janet vanishing. How were they not aware of Thanos invading Earth? It seems the first 95% of the film took place before Infinity Wars and during Infinity Wars they were just chillin and focusing on finding another way to harvest quantum energy for Ava until they all disappear.
Maybe Ant-Man and the Wasp should be released before Infinity Wars and the mid-credits scene should be everyone hanging out together watching TV and seeing the news of Earth being invaded by Thanos. Ant-Man and the Wasp should have been released after Doctor Strange and before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 in order to maximize box office profit.
Ant-Man and the Wasp connects more with Civil War than Infinity Wars.
It should have been released in 2016 because the quality is not high enough when people have a massive superhero fatigue after Infinity Wars. That way this film could have made more $$$.
I almost forgot but from my Non-Spoiler Review, my reason they want to keep it light-hearted is because they probably want to save a story element from the 1st Ant-Man for later sequels. From the 1st Ant-Man film, one of the Hydra agents steals a vial of Cross particles. The filmmaker probably thought of building the story up from that for the 2nd Ant-Man film but I guess they want to diversify the level of drama for the Ant-man films in order to keep it fresh. If that was their goal then they succeeded.
The way this film should be...
This film should have taken risks. The story should have Ant-Man and the Wasp aware of the war but they have to stop ghost or some other villain that can tie into the story. Then somewhere in the climax people start vanishing including Wasp which gives Scott Lang more trouble while the villain gains the upper hand but is later defeated. Then in the mid-credits he joins the remaining Avengers in Wakanda.
Okay I’m done talking about the problems of this film. Even though the writers made a lazy decision for the story, they still did a good job by making it entertaining. It is hard to dislike Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The choreography is good with Wasp taking the spotlight. Also the car chase scenes gives off the Fast & Furious vibe with the shrinking. The fight between the two main characters and ghost was also fun to watch. The 1st Ant-Man was a heist film and this one is a good mix of heist and recon because everyone wants that shrinking building briefcase. I do respect the way how they keep this film fresh and new. The problem with this is the time of release.
People expect it to have a strong story connection with Infinity Wars but the mid-credit scene was the only connection.
So far the box office profit is below expectation and its sad that there could no possibility for a sequel. There is story left out to explore but who knows they could put that in a different superhero film. I could write about how they don’t explore much of the quantum realm and Pfeiffer but I feel like I have written enough.
Again the biggest mistake was to release this film after Infinity Wars because people expect a strong story connection between the two but there isn’t. That is what people are going to be bummed about whether they realize it or not.
It is a more ENJOYABLE film than the 1st. We don’t have to dwell with the origin and watch a good portion of him getting use to the Ant-Man suit. It goes into the story much faster than the 1st despite a lack of focus in the villain.
Ant-Man and the Wasp has that similar light tone to Spider-Man, knows its own strength/weaknesses like Thor: Ragnarok, and it's not too CGI heavy like Captain America: Winter Soldier.
This film holds up on its own and proves that MCU can't make bad films. It proves MCU can make films that are great to amazing.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is the lowest of the high in superhero film quality and is highly underrated.