Poor Paul Rudd. He’s such a tiny, adorable funny man just waiting for his big break. He went from enthusiastically playing Super Nintendo to fighting Michael Myers to flicking people off at summer camp to Sex Panther, and yet he never got jettisoned to the A-list. And then it finally happened, Paul Rudd got cast as the lead role in a superhero movie to be written and directed by Edgar Wright no less!
I mean, the superhero was only Ant-Man, and Wright ended up leaving the project over creative differences. But so what? Paul Rudd was finally going to have his big breakout blockbuster moment! All he had to do was…..follow-up Avengers: Age of Ultron, the biggest Marvel movie at the time. *Sigh* Poor Paul Rudd, history has a funny way of repeating itself.
Merely four days after the last “biggest Marvel movie at the time” broke box-office records and left fans an emotional wreck, Marvel Studios released the second trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp. The 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sees Rudd return as Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, now under house arrest after helping Captain America try to escape U.S. government capture in Captain America: Civil War. While he’s trying to care for his daughter, he’s drawn back into the world of espionage by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) to stop a mysterious new entity from the “Quantum dimension” known as Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). To Scott’s surprise, Hope dawns a brand new supersuit as the Wasp, which allows her to fly and shoot lasers.
Ant-Man and the Wasp will see Peyton Reed (Bring It On, Yes Man) return to the director’s chair, though more curious is the writing credits. There are five credited screenwriters on this project, including Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Andrew Barrer (Haunt) and even Rudd himself. It’s a wonder as to how streamlined the story will be and whether or not new cast members Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Pfeiffer and Walton Goggins will have enough solid screen time. At the very least, the action seems a lot stronger this time around with the double-team of Ant-Man and the Wasp getting more time to show off the possibilities of shrinking/growing tech.
But Ant-Man and the Wasp has another major problem: who in the blue hell cares about Ant-Man and the Wasp?! It’s safe to say that most people have seen Avengers: Infinity War by now and know of its rather grim ending. And since Infinity War is merely Part 1 of the grand finale Marvel Studios has cooked up for its original heroes, the world has to wait an entire year for the next installment to come out and has to suffice on its cliffhanger (and end credit scene, of course) So with the shock of Infinity War fresh in people’s minds, how can another mostly-comedic adventure with Brian Fantana riding flying ants possibly tide people over? At least with the first Ant-Man following Age of Ultron somewhat made sense, in having the biggest possible event in the MCU followed up by a funnier, looser, small-scale heist movie with superpowers. But here, it just seems like a case of wrong previous installment, wrong release date. Captain Marvel would’ve been the much more logical follow-up film but it’s wise that Marvel is taking their time with who will clearly be a major player in the MCU’s next installment.
So yeah, Ant-Man and the Wasp could’ve been directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin and it still would’ve been bricked before it got off the ground. In a simple case of poor timing and no matter how much flash the movie throws at the audience (Michael Douglas! Michelle Pfeiffer! MICHAEL PENA SMILING!), it seems like Paul Rudd is getting another run of bad luck. I mean the movie probably won’t be terrible (these are Marvel movies we’re talking about), but I doubt the kids will be tugging on their parents’ shirts to get tickets for the midnight screening of…..the Ant-Man sequel.
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Ant-Man and the Wasp hits theaters July 6. What do you think of the new trailer? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to stick with The Young Folks for the latest movie news.
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