The Marvel movie power-train just keeps on chugging along, as we reach the end of phase two with their twelfth film: Ant-Man. Directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll and Michael Douglas. We follow the story of down-on-his-luck, ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who steals Hank Pym’s Ant-Man suit. Learning how to use the suit, Lang becomes a man who can shrink to the size of an insect, learns to control ants, and tries to redeem himself as a new kind of superhero to save the day. It’s fun, amusing and full of action. Hell, it’s just one more wonderful Marvel movie to add to their already amazing collection of films.
The film takes place sometime after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Scott Lang has been released from jail after a three year sentence for basically stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. All he wants to do is find work and be with his daughter. Lang is having a difficult time finding work as do many ex-cons. When his friend, Luis (Michael Pena) has a job for him, he can’t pass it up. Unbeknownst to Scott, they have broken into Hank Pym’s house. Finding nothing of value, Scott takes the only thing they did come across; an odd looking suit.
Upset by not finding anything good, Scott tries on the suit for a kick. After accidentally shrinking himself, he learns that Pym has been manipulating him into stealing the suit the whole time. Once together, Scott, Hank, and Hank’s daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) begin training and learning to use the suit. Hank needs Scott to break into his old lab and steal Darren Cross’ (Corey Stoll) new and improved suit before he can mass produce them and sell them to Hydra. Action, comedy, and superhero antics ensue, paving the way to a really fun summer movie, and nice addition to the superhero genre.
It’s a very basic origin story with all the normal elements you would expect, but what makes it slightly better than average is the talent that Marvel has collected here. These aren’t just actors reading lines on camera; you really feel the life each actor brings to their character. Paul Rudd is excellent in the leading role as ex-con turned hero. He’s charming, very funny, and really makes use of his talent. Unlike Captain America, for example, who is a hit-first-ask-questions-later type, Ant-Man must make use of other talents: stealing, comedy as a defense, his brain, etc. With this, Rudd was the perfect choice for the role. He is an everyday guy that becomes a hero. You’re rooting for him from the start.
Evangeline Lilly plays the role of Hope van Dyne, daughter of Hank Pym and Janet. She is one of the more complicated characters in the movie. We get to see a woman who is torn between right and wrong. She works for Darren Cross and is estranged from her father. Only after seeing what evil Cross wants to unleash on the world does she contact her father. Lilly does a great job conveying this in all her scenes. She’s conflicted between what she wants to do and what she needs to do. She is a great character in the film and they set it up perfectly for whatever may become of her in the Marvel universe.
Hank Pym is the character that is at the center of all the moving parts of this film. He’s controlling the events to make sure that the good guys win the day. Michael Douglas is great. He really puts his stamp onto the movie. He’s an aging hero from yesteryear that wants nothing more than to have his technology used for good, and he’ll stop at nothing to achieve that. One of the best scenes is the opening where we get to see a young Pym, with some amazing CGI, fighting for what he believes in. You learn so much about him in such a short scene, and I believe that’s a great use of actor and writing. Also, for an old guy, he kicks some ass.
Our hero is only as good as his villain, and here we have a true villain. Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who was once Pym’s protégé but wants more and more power. This leads him down a path from which he cannot return. Little by little, over time, he develops his own technology in a suit that can shrink people. Codename: Yellowjacket. Cross wants an army of Yellowjackets and he will sell to the highest bidder, no matter what they want to use the technology for. Stoll is great at just being a bad guy. Yellowjacket is the least developed character in the movie, but what is there is good. If anything, we could have used more of him. He is really more of a looming threat in the movie until the third act. But, when Cross finally puts on the suit, the action cranks up to eleven and never stops until the end.
The special effects are great. As far as you’re concerned, they shrank Paul Rudd and he played with real ants. The ants look so real that you believe he is flying on the back of them. The shrinking effect looks wonderful, and works very smoothly in the fight scenes. A nice combination of shrinking effects was used to jump from small to big within a scene. The fight choreography looks incredible and really makes the movie look different from others. A lot of time was put into making sure everything looked right for the movie. The CGI usage of aging and de-aging people has come along way. You’d swear they went back in time and had a young Michael Douglas do his flashbacks.
Overall, this is a great summer release from Marvel. What makes it great is it didn’t come with all the Marvel movie drama that some of the other films come with. It’s the first film for this character, so there was no need to weigh it down with Gemstones, or anyone picking sides. At least, not yet anyway. This is a great superhero movie that just happens to take place in a world where there are always larger issues on the horizon, but this story didn’t need to deal with any of them. It’s nice to get back to a basic superhero movie. But, because it’s Marvel, they plant seeds throughout the movie for future flicks, which is exciting when you see or hear them. This was a great, fun film. Huzzah, Marvel, ya did it again!