‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Review Round-Up

In just a couple of weeks, Marvel Studios is set to release its first follow-up to Avengers: Infinity War, in the form of Ant-Man and the Wasp.

With just a couple of weeks until its July 6 release date, the embargo on Ant-Man and the Wasp reviews has finally lifted, and critics are able to publish their thoughts on Peyton Reed’s latest outing.

Fortunately for all of the Ant-Man fans out there, it sounds as though Marvel has yet another hit no its hands.

While a couple of critics noted that the movie may not have had great consequences, and didn’t feel as important on the heels of Infinity War, almost every single review agreed that Ant-Man and the Wasp has a charm that cannot be denied, and that the new team of Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly absolutely steal the show.

To make things easy, we collected several different reviews for Marvel’s latest, and you can check them out below!

ComicBook.com

ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis had nothing but great things to say about Ant-Man and the Wasp in his official review.

“In a world where bigger is often thought to mean better, especially in terms of sequels, Ant-Man and The Wasp comes along to prove it is not the case. A sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, which was a heist flick burdened with introducing a hero many audiences were unfamiliar with, the latest entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a self-contained joy ride written to include great humor and surprising twists.”

You can read our full review here.

Variety

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman had some similar thoughts on the film. While he admitted that the stakes may not have been very high, he noted that that might be Ant-Man‘s biggest strength.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp is a full two hours, yet even when it’s pulling out all the stops, the movie never gives you that sinking sensation you can get when a comic-book film’s extended climax kicks in, and you feel the visual-effects army taking over the movie. That’s because Peyton Reed invests every moment with personality. That’s not quite the same thing as humanity. But it’s enough to qualify as the miniature version.”

You can read Variety’s full review here.

IndieWire

While some reviews felt that Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s ability to keep things grounded was a major strength after the events of Infinity War, others argued exactly the opposite. IndieWire says the film is fun, but ultimately becomes “forgettable” due to its failure to live up to the grand expectations set by its Avengers predecessor.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp provides a blithe, forgettable antidote to the sprawling apocalyptic circumstances of Avengers: Infinity War just a few months earlier. It’s everything you might expect from a witty story about a shrinking superhero and gobbledygook involving the quantum realm, and it’s as ebullient and disposable as the last one.”

You can read IndieWire’s full review here.

EW

Like IndieWire, EW’s review also felt that Ant-Man and the Wasp was a forgettable addition to the MCU, ultimately giving the film a disappointing grade of C+.

“After I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp, I tried to remember if I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is one of those Marvel products peddling self-aware detachment as a defining narrative strategy. Scientists will say science stuff — ‘quantum realm,’ ‘quantum entanglement,’ ‘quantum tunnel’ — and then Scott/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) will deadpan that everyone says “quantum” too much. Characters joke so much about Captain America: Civil War that you start to wonder if you paid movie-ticket prices to read the internet two years ago. It feels less like a feature film than a meme somebody made about an Ant-Man trailer.”

You can read the full EW review here.

Rolling Stone

Fortunately, it seems as though only a small handful of critics took issue with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers gave the movie 3 out of 4 stars, saying that the partnership of Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly made for a wonderful sequel.

“Sometimes better-than-good things do come in small packages. The proof can be found in Ant-Man and the Wasp, a fizzy treat of a sequel that retains the becoming modesty of the original, but with a timely new twist. The Wasp, played by the radiant Evangeline Lilly, becomes the first female character ever to appear in the title of a Marvel movie.”

You can read Rolling Stone’s full review here.

The Hollywood Reporter

While THR’s review of Ant-Man and the Wasp says that the film may feel inconsequential, it admits that the charm of Peyton Reed’s sequel can’t be denied.

“It’s hard to say which is the most lightweight, evanescent and inconsequential of the bunch — Ant-Man, the Wasp or Ant-Man and the Wasp. But while pondering this conundrum for two hours, it becomes increasingly difficult not to notice that this latest entry in the unstoppable Marvel Studios takeover of the world is probably the most amusing film the company has made since the Kevin Feige reign began a decade ago. With a domestic haul of “only” $180 million in 2015, the original Ant-Man stands as the company’s second-lowest grosser during that period, so Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War will not feel threatened. But young summer audiences will nonetheless delight in the goofy, low-stakes nonsense the mostly engaging characters generate.”

You can read the full THR review here.

IGN

Sequel’s often have trouble living up to their predecessors, but IGN’s Laura Prudom insists that Ant-Man and the Wasp is able to do just that.

“Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn’t have as much style as James Gunn’s Guardians movies or Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, but returning director Peyton Reed has honed in on everything that made the first Ant-Man so charming and doubled down on it, from the offbeat humor to the zippy energy radiating from every scene. It’s a smidge longer than its predecessor, but somehow feels tighter and more confident in its execution — a rare feat for a sequel.”

You can read the full IGN review here.