Evangeline Lilly

In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne gets a suit and not much else. There is sharpness in her performance, a sense that she is ready for the physical business, but little opportunity to make Hope interesting. We were frustrated by the lack of a part for her, especially in a film with her character in its title. Peyton Reed can put the Wasp to work; Jeff Loveness’s screenplay cannot find enough for Lilly to play.

That problem should not define a career which began to take shape with Kate Austen in Lost (2004–2010). The television breakthrough was followed by films including The Hurt Locker (2008) and Real Steel (2011), before the franchises took over. Her two films with Peter Jackson put her in the role of Tauriel, in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Hope followed in Ant-Man (2015). Across the elf warrior and the superhero, the recurring requirement is physical competence: Lilly is repeatedly asked to be the woman who can manage the action.

Lilly also has a supporting part as Connie James in The Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow’s bomb-disposal thriller frightens because it makes the work clear, and Jeremy Renner gives the danger an unsettling appeal. It is the stronger film by a considerable distance, though it gives us less reason to make Lilly the centre of the discussion. We recommend it for Bigelow’s handling of tension, rather than as the place to understand what Lilly can do.

Physical assurance is useful, particularly in films where fighting is a large part of the job, and Lilly’s should not be dismissed just because the roles recur. What needs questioning is how readily that assurance becomes an excuse to stop writing. Quantumania leaves Hope underwritten while finding time for elaborate comic set pieces. Another action role would be welcome, provided it gave her more to do than fight.