Ant-Man Movie Review

"You give God-like powers to everyone, it's gonna be chaos."

-Hank Pym

If there was any confusion on whether Ant-Man was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel did a pretty good job of clearing that up with this poster, among two others. The other two were of Ant-Man standing on Thor's hammer Mjolnir and of Ant-Man standing Captain America's shield. Talk about genius marketing, whoever came up with that idea deserves a bonus. Now for the fun. Ant-Man is a character that is definitely an unknown by most of the movie-going audience but I have a very strong feeling that's going to change. In many ways Ant-Man was like last years Guardians of the Galaxy. Making these films were a huge risk for Marvel, but were they really? Marvel, for good reason, has gained the trust of the audience. While Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn't the masterpiece I was hoping for, people flocked to see it and the box office is proof. While Guardians of the Galaxy didn't pass the billion dollar mark, calling it a home run would be understatement. Star Lord and the gang took the world by storm and was immensely successful, surpassing everyone's expectations. Now while I would bet all the money I have that Ant-Man won't pass the billion dollar mark, I hope that word of mouth is as good for it as it was for Guardians, because I loved this film. From the performances, to the story, to the Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout, that made the experience for comic fans and fans of the MCU alike, a treat to watch. The film is directed by Peyton Reed and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, the great Michael Douglass as Hank Pym/old Ant-Man, Evangeline Lily as Hope Van Dyne and Hank Pym's daughter, and Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellow Jacket.

This film is an origin story but have no fear, it's not a boring one or one you have seen before. Although I will admit that at the core of the story, Ant-man is not the most original, but that's not a bad thing. It didn't feel like a typical Marvel movie and maybe for that reason alone I enjoyed it so much. The film is also very self-aware of how silly it is and it never takes itself too seriously, and that's what Marvel excels at in my opinion. I mean come on, his name is Ant-Man! You can't possibly say that out loud and not feel silly. But Ant-man harnesses this power and channels it into a fun, summer film with plenty of heart and even more laughs. 

Scott Lang is released from prison after he was convicted of burglary and is set on turning his life around for his daughter Cassie. His best friend Luis, played by Michael Pena, picks him up from prison and takes him home where Scott will be sharing a small apartment with him and two other ex-cons. One way to categorize this film would be to call it a heist film, among other things, but it is not only one thing, and it would be unfair to categorize it as so. 

We also have our other main character, Dr. Hank Pym. The film does a very good job of giving us Hank's back story with the help of some familiar faces from the MCU that I don't want to spoil in this review. We get a dose of some wacky MCU science with something called the Pym particle. Hank Pym was able to design a particle that shrunk the space between atoms while increasing it's density and thus Ant-Man was born. He was the only person in the world who had the formula and he would be damned if anyone were to get their hands on it. He believed it was too dangerous of a weapon for the world to handle, so he kept it to himself. He designed the Ant-Man suit and used it for top secret missions.

One of my favorite Things About Ant-Man was it's introduction of the Microverse. Thor and Guardians introduced us to the galaxy and godly worlds and now Ant-Man has shown us ordinary things from a different and very fun perspective. Half the fun of the film came from when Scott would shrink down to size and then grow within a moments notice. Things like mice and grass looked monstrous and toy train sets and briefcases became life and death battleground locations. It was genius and beautifully done and by the end of the film I just wanted more. 

Also a huge part of the film I can't leave out are the ants themselves! Sure he can shrink down to the size of an ant, but he can also control them. As the film progresses we are introduced to different and cooler species of ants that all have specific sets of skills! I know that may sound strange, or even kind of dumb, but it's executed in such a great way and becomes such a fun aspect of the movie and a skill Scott has to learn to master. 

But if Marvel is known for having any weaknesses it would definitely be in the villain department and Ant-Man doesn't do much to change that. Darren Cross was Hank Pym's protégé but once Hank realized that Cross could not be trusted with the knowledge of the Pym particle, he distanced himself from him. Cross went on to become the CEO of Pym Industries and after years of failed attempts was able to replicate Pym's formula. He created the Yellow Jacket suit which is essentially a weaponized Ant-Man suit that can fly. His sole reasoning for this was to sell his technology to the highest bidders, but keep the formula for himself so he could have his buyers locked into his supply. I think Corey Stoll is a great actor and his performance was good, but I didn't feel much for him. He ranks higher than some of the past MCU villains, like Whiplash or Killian, but he's no Loki or Wilson Fisk. 

Of course it wouldn't be an MCU film without all the Easter Eggs for us fans! I won't go into detail but there are some pretty big ones and some very welcomed appearances from MCU characters of past films. The chemistry between Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglass was great and they all played off each other to bring us great performances. I, like many other people, was initially skeptical about Paul Rudd taking on such an important character in the MCU, because don't be fooled, Ant-Man will play a very big and important role in the future of the MCU, but he surprised me. He nailed the character and I can't wait to see him interact with the likes of Iron Man and Captain America in next year's Captain America: Civil War! 

The film was also left open for Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne to have story lines interwoven into future films. This was honestly such an amazing addition to the growing list of MCU films and it would be a shame if you were to miss out on it because of it's silly title or maybe even lackluster trailers. The movie is funny, it's unique, it has heart, and it is very clearly connected to other Marvel movies. It never takes itself too seriously and is a blast to watch. I'm definitely checking this out in theaters again, maybe even a third time. I'd like to refer to guardians one last time in closing. If you loved the uniqueness and heart of that film then I can bet you'll love Ant-Man. I won't say it's as good, but it's a hell of a good movie. Oh, and stay until the very end because there are two after credit scenes and you don't want to miss either of them! I give Ant-Man a 9 out of 10!