Ant-Man and the Wasp

Peyton Reed’s 119 minute film is the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to carry a female character in its title. Its place in the timeline matters more than usual, because the events happen before Avengers: Infinity War and cover roughly 48 hours. That is why it stays light and small in scope right to the end, and why the mid credits scene drops it back into the larger story in a single move. Watched in release order, it means a hard tonal break after two hours of a laboratory rescue operation. The most interesting technical work is the chase. The shrinking gag only reads if the street geometry underneath it is true, so for a pursuit shot practically in Atlanta the effects team built 130 separate San Francisco environments and rebuilt locations such as Lombard Street to millimetre accuracy. Michelle Pfeiffer was digitally de-aged for the flashback material. Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, was changed from a male character in the comics and written as a casualty rather than a villain. Who it is for: viewers who like scale gags and low pressure Marvel entries. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a real threat on screen, since the tension comes from a clock running down rather than a fight that could be lost.