Sci-Fi Storm

The latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe provides a breath of fresh air, sunshine and humor in the midst of its darkest time. Ant-Man and the Wasp continues with the precedent set by Ant-Man – a superhero movie set with humor. Whereas the other movies would often include humorous lines here and there, here the premise incorporates the fact that the protagonist is inept but good-hearted, surrounded by ultra-smart people whose technobabble is way over his head. Paul Rudd continues his perfect portrayal as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, again joined by Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, and Michael Peña as Luis. Joining the ranks this time are Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Bill Foster, a former colleague of Dr. Pym, and Killjoys‘ Hannah John-Kamen as Ava.

I’m going to say this right now – every Marvel movie should have Michael Peña’s Luis do all the catch-up exposition.

I won’t get too much into the plot as I hate to give any spoilers, but at least to answer the pressing question as to what happened to Ant-Man during Infinity War – he’s been under house arrest since the events of Captain America: Civil War, having reached a plea deal for having violated the Sokovia Accords, and is about to be released after his two-year sentence, during which he has had no contact with Pym or Hope, who are in hiding. But a vision that Scott has indicates that it might be possible that Janet Van Dyne – Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother, may still be alive.

Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava provides a new character that takes the story’s conflict in a new dimension, and her portrayal is perfect – I look forward to seeing her in future movies.

Real Heroes. Not Actual Size.

In theaters July 6th

Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Evangeline Lilly – opens July 17th!

Marvel announced today that The Fifth Beatle and Yes Man director Peyton Reed will take over the vacant director’s chair for Ant-Man, after Edgar Wright and Marvel choose to go their separate ways over creative differences.

In addition, Adam McKay, a former Saturday Night Live writer who has written several Wil Ferrell movies including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and it’s sequel and was previously in talks to take over but dropped out, will in fact write the script.

It appears that Marvel has decided to part ways with director Edgar Wright and get Ant-Man back on track. In a joint statement they say the split is “amicable”, but word on the street is that the studio and Shaun Of The Dead director Wright have been at odds for a while and it deteriorated recently over creative differences. A replacement has yet to be named, but Marvel says the release date of July 17th, 2015 will be unaffected.

Marvel has it’s Ant-Man. Interestingly, after Wil Wheaton posted the following on Tumblr:

I actually got to thinking, “Hmm…maybe Joss could give Wil one of those superhero cameos in the next movie…wait, don’t they still need an Ant-Man?”, immediately afterwards the rumors started that Paul Rudd had been selected – and now it is confirmed. The Anchorman 2 actor was director Edgar Wright’s first choice for the role.

Maybe there’s still something for Wil to play… 🙂