"The Dragon King accordingly led him to the center of the ocean treasury, where all at once they saw a thousand shafts of golden light. Pointing to the spot, the Dragon King said, "That's it—the thing that is glowing." Wukong girded up his clothes and went forward to touch it: it was an iron rod more than twenty feet long and as thick as a barrel. Using all his might, he lifted it with both hands, saying "it's a little too long and too thick. It would be more serviceable if it were somewhat shorter and thinner." Hardly had he finished speaking when the treasure shrunk a few feet in length and became a layer thinner. "Smaller still would be even better," said Wukong, giving it another bounce in his hands. Again, the treasure became smaller. Highly pleased, Wukong took it out of the ocean treasury to examine it. He found a golden hoop at each end, with solid black iron in between. Immediately adjacent to one of the hoops was the inscription, "The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod. Weight: thirteen thousand five hundred pounds." He thought to himself in secret delight, "this treasure, I suppose, must be most compliant with one's wishes." As he walked, he was deliberating in his mind and murmuring to himself, bouncing the rod in his hands, "Shorter and thinner still would be marvelous!" By the time he took it outside, the rod was no more than twenty feet in length and had the thickness of a rice bowl."

—excerpt from "The Monkey and the Monk: An Abridgment of The Journey to the West" by Anthony C. Yu

For those who don't know, The Monkey King, Sun Wukong would go on shrink his new weapon Ruyi Jingu Bang (如意金箍棒) to the size of a sewing needle and tuck it behind his ear when he's not wielding it. Hank Pym, the golden age Ant-Man (played again by Michael Douglass) also tucks a magic weapon behind his ear. Rather than a staff it's a sort of antenna used to control his ever-growing army of giant ants. Paul Rudd's Ant-Man bares even more of a resemblance to the Monkey King, but it’s not his Kung Fu. Like Sun Wukong Ant-Man steals his size changing weaponry, in ANT-MAN (2015) and ends up paying his own penance after the events of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), despite those setbacks he remains the jovial trickster of The Avengers pantheon.

With this summer’s ANT-MAN AND THE WASP that friendliness is a welcome salve, particularly for parents whose children left AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) in tears. Picking up from the events of his previous appearances, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang projects a silliness on par with DEADPOOL 2 (2018), minus the ultra-violence and meta-humor; of course. Instead, the movie’s humor is family friendly and self-aware, playing well with the youngsters and their parents.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP is the most “Disney” of the Marvel Studios movies, echoing the mad scientist adventures of Disney’s back catalogue. It’s also more toy-etic than THOR: RAGNAROCK (2017), especially for whomever remembers playing with their hot wheels. Set exclusively in San Francisco the story nods and winks to Bay Area audiences, its housing crisis and famous car chases; think BULLITT (1968) and WHAT’S UP DOC? (1972). For all of its whimsical bloodlessness, the movie doesn’t fail to also pack a punch or flying kick, thanks entirely to the movie’s bad-ass women The Wasp and antagonist Ghost. 

 

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Wasp

The formidable Evangeline Lilly reprises her role as Hope Van Dyne, daughter of Hank Pym and at long last, the modern-day WASP. One of Marvel comics’ earliest super-heroes, the Wasp first saw publication in Tales to Astonish #44 (June 1963) illustrated by Jack Kirby. This golden age version of the Wasp is played by a luminous Michelle Pfeiffer in the film. In contrast, Lilly’s Wasp sports the practical ponytail, rarely seen on leading ladies, and is hot and sweaty. 

Just like with the movie's antagonist Ghost, played by a nearly feral Hannah John-Kamen, these beautiful women are not portrayed as glamorous. They are the true action figures of the movie. For this we should thank Fight Choreographer Chris Brewster and his team of fighting stunt-women. We initially covered Brewster's secret origins in an interview discussing THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013), and later caught up to him to discuss his work on Netflix's DAREDEVIL series and that particular hallway fight scene which made that first season the success it was. More recently he added BLACK PANTHER (2017) to his super-fight repertoire.

While Ant-Man plays more of a kicking target, it's the women around him that make size changing super-fights interesting and exciting. Along with Lilly and John-Kamen, there are three stunt women who played no small part in the action: Tamiko Brownlee, Jessie Graff and Ingrid Kleinig. Of them, Tamiko Brownlee likely has the deepest roots in the martial arts. Born to Japanese and South African parents she started training in Taekwondo at an early age. She has since also trained in Muay Thai, Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, Wushu and Boxing, bringing those skills to bear as stunt double for Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost. 

In contrast, Evangeline Lilly's stunt double Ingrid Kleinig does not attribute any specific martial art to her powerful body of work. Instead she's said to have fallen into the world of stunts while performing 140ft above the arena in the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games. Since then she's stunt-doubled for Lilly throughout her work in The Hobbit franchise - THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (2013) and The HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014). She's also provided stunts for Zhang Yimou's THE GREAT WALL (2016) and played stunt-double for Margot Robbie in SUICIDE SQUAD (2016).

Completing this trinity of powerful women is Motion Capture Double Jessie Graff, the 2015 Action Icon Award recipient for Stunt Woman of the Year. She bounds onto the motion-capture set with a black belt in Taekwondo and black sash in Kung Fu. while she's worked stunts on movies like THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (2009) and WONDER WOMAN (2017), her greater claim to fame may be as an American Ninja Warrior. In 2016 she wowed viewers of the popular obstacle course show by being the first woman to complete their new and more difficult course; all in her Wonder Woman outfit.

Together, this team of dedicated stunt-people fill the screen with innovative takes on size-changing-super-fights. As with most super-hero movies the fist-a-cuffs are as important as the special effects and costumes and in true Marvel fashion they are delivered with an extra-large portion of good-natured humor. Even the bad guys aren't so bad. While the occasional journeys into the teenyverse provide glorious 3D spectacle and the techno-babble reaches epic proportions ANT-MAN AND THE WASP remains ultimately a "small movie," very much about family. Not the nuclear family of old but it's more modern alternatives: a Quantum Family?

PS: Make sure to stay for the after credits scene rimshot.