Ant-Man

Ant-Man is an odd film to review.

A movie about a guy who shrinks down to the size of an ant is odd. A movie about a guy who shrinks down to the size of an ant complete with superhuman strength and agility plus the added bonus of having the power to control any and all ants in the general vicinity is even odder. What’s even odder still is that said guy is an ex-thief turned superhero who battles another guy with shrinking powers that calls himself “Yellowjacket” who is, by the by, hell-bent on making micro warriors the new norm for government sanctioned strike teams across the globe. What’s even further out into deep space is that said superhero is a Marvel property that somehow, despite all of its outlandish aspects, doesn’t break the streak of hits the House of M keeps cranking out.

First things first, Ant-Man is very much a silly movie. It’s also very much a superhero movie. It’s these two aspects of the Ant-Man character that makes the film work so well, but also one of the reasons why it doesn’t. For every “wtf” moment, there’s an equally as cool “oh shit” moment. For every eye roll of a scene, there’s an edge of your seat sequence. For every groan inducing line of cheesy dialogue, there’s a one-liner that’ll have you in stitches and serve as a reminder as to why this movie ever saw the light of day in the first place.

That being said, the rollercoaster ride this film takes you on is a bit frustrating. There were many points in the film where, quite honestly, I was bored. Some of the more soap opera-y emotional beats between Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lily) coupled with Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) “down and out father looking to do right by his daughter” role got to be a bit much. I know (and like) the more personal and grounded danger in this film compared to the world and city destroying events in other superhero films, but in order to have that work, much more time needed to be devoted to the emotional core of the story and that is where the movie slows. Stopping for a poignant character moment is not necessarily a bad thing, but it just seems like every time I got interested in this new world, the pace slowed down a bit much for my tastes until inevitably some great comedy or action scene picked things back up again. There’s just a bit too much back and forth to really be enthralled in everything the movie has to offer during its runtime, but at least they tried.

As for the cast, everyone does a relatively good job with the material they have to work with, some getting more short-changed than others. The main villain, David Cross (Corey Stoll) for example, is a typical cookie cutter villain in every sense of the word but he’s evil enough with just the right hint of sympathy that we get why he’s doing his bad guy thing. Stoll dedicates himself to making the idea of a dude serious about wanting tiny insect warriors to police the world feel real and after a bit, you actually believe him.

The rest of the actors on the other hand, while a decent fit in their roles, are a little too well known to completely disappear into their characters and suspend our disbelief. A man who shrinks down to the size of an ant to battle crime? Fine, I’m in. But a man who shrinks down to the size of an ant to battle crime that’s played by the guy who wears Black Panther cologne and kicks it with Ron Burgundy? A bit tougher of a sell. Paul Rudd does a fine job in the role, don’t get me wrong, I’m just starting to get a little jaded by big name actors popping up in these movies whether they fit the role or not. One standout performance however, is Michael Pena’s Luis, Scott Lang’s fellow thief who steals (PUN INTENDED!) the show whenever he opens his mouth. It’s his fun charisma and comic timing that make every piece of dialogue he utters a joy to watch.

When the movie isn’t taking its time to try and hit us in the feels, it ramps up to some truly inspired and exciting action sequences. The idea that Ant-Man has superhuman strength and abilities while in his tiny form is played to great effect as he shrinks and grows effortlessly throughout the fight, cleverly using all the powers at his disposal to create some memorable (and often funny) fights that hit that sweet spot in terms of summer popcorn flick action. The end fight is particularly fun to watch with a Thomas the Train toy giving a breakthrough (PUN INTENDED x2!!…you’ll see what I mean…) performance that needs to be seen to believe. It’s these little set pieces that elevate Ant-Man past what could have been just a perfectly average film.

Now the big question: how does this film fit into the overarching Marvel Universe? I’d say pretty damn well considering that the filmmakers didn’t overdo it with references and callbacks to other films like so many other MCU movies have been doing recently (looking at you Age of Ultron), so even though the events in this film are far away from anything the Avengers would ever deal with, the incorporation of a cleverly handled cameo that evolves into an impromptu fight scene plays just as well as anything we’ve seen up until that point and ties Ant-Man into the bigger picture relatively well. As with all MCU movies there is a secret scene mid-credits with an added bonus of another one at the end of the entire crawl so stay tuned for that.

While it may not be the best movie they’ve made, Ant-Man finds a comfortable home in between comedy and action that makes it the most risky movie since Guardians of the Galaxy, and for the most part pulls it off.