Ant-Man (2015) | A Fun Diversion

After the bombastic and nearly catastrophic events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the MCU needed to calm things down again and bring everything back down to Earth with a smaller-scale story before finally moving on to Phase III of the Infinity Saga. Who better to take the reins of a small story than Ant-Man, whose powers involve shrinking, right? It also involves controlling ants, which is a whole other thing the movie spends time on, but you get the idea.

Pros

Funny jokes and solid delivery
Interesting heist scenarios
Compelling cast
Nice family drama & dynamics to humanize Scott
Impressive musical score

Cons

Story is a little thin and forgettable in the pantheon of MCU movies
Could and should have been shorter
Yet another undercooked villain

Plot & Thoughts

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just been released from prison, having completed his sentence. He’d been locked away for years for conspiring and being involved in a heist. He wants to go straight with his life and spend time with his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Forston), but his ex-wife (Judy Greer) and her new husband (Bobby Cannavale) tell him that he has to get his own apartment and pay for child support if he wants to be with her. Due to his criminal history, his master’s degree in electrical engineering accounts for nothing because he’s unable to acquire and retain a job, even at small restaurants or retail stores. Out of desperation to make some money, he agrees with his former cellmate, Luis (Michael Pena), and their friends to do another heist, which leads to him unknowingly stealing the Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who actually manipulated Luis to do the heist to test Scott’s abilities. While Scott wants nothing to do with the suit after mistakenly trying out its powers for the first time, Hank offers him an opportunity to help him and Hank’s daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), steal the Yellowjacket suit from his old company, which had been developed as a military grade version of the Ant-Man suit by Hank’s former protoge, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).

While Ant-Man may not have the most memorable movies, they still manage to be films that are on the funny side of the MCU, at least, the first two. I was surprised by how much I liked it upon first viewing it. All the jokes landed with me, and some of the best moments came from Scott’s criminal associates. However, what I liked most about Ant-Man was the focus on the characters and their motivations. After the epic, world-ending events of Age of Ultron, Ant-Man is a great palate cleanser that scales down the excitement and spends its efforts characterizing its heroes.

Paul Rudd has always managed to captivate and charm with his charisma and comedy, and he does so here as Scott Lang. He’s immediately a sympathetic character because his motivations are all driven by trying to be a good dad and being able to spend time with his daughter. The friendship that forms between Scott, Hope, and Hank is also convincing, thanks to the quality acting of the cast and the dynamics between the characters. The chemistry between Rudd, Lily, and Douglas works really well. Hope has a frictional relationship with her father, and she doesn’t trust Scott due to his criminal past, so she’s reluctant to work with them, but she still has her justifiable reasons to stay involved. There’s a romantic arc that begins to form between Hope and Scott, but doesn’t fully come into fruition in this movie. Meanwhile, the relationship between Scott and Hank operates the same way as a mentor training his pupil, and Michael Douglas does a great job in the role. When Douglas phones it in, you can tell, but here, he seemed to really enjoy the role.

Likewise, the action and heist scenes are fun. I always enjoy a good heist movie, and while this doesn’t really follow that formula much, there’s plenty of excitement to be had with the shrinking shenanigans of Ant-Man tech. Where the movie gets less interesting for me is (surprise) the villain. Darren Cross is the typical power-driven corporate stooge. He feels like a knockoff of Obadiah Stane from Iron Man, with a lot less nuance. I don’t think Corey Stoll failed at acting; it’s just how the character is written. There’s not much to him to make him stand out from other Marvel villains, many of whom were already lacking.

TL;DR

Ant-Man is a straightforward superhero origin story that nicely caps off Phase II of the MCU. Sometimes, all you want is a simple story for your hero, and Ant-Man delivers that with a lot of action and jokes along the way. The cast all do their parts convincingly, and though the villain is yet another forgettable entry in the list of Marvel villains, there are still some good moments in the final act, as he starts to get menacing. It’s not the most memorable, nor is it the most bombastic move in the Infinity Saga, but it’s still a pretty balanced experience that manages to deliver a lot of laughs and compelling characters.

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