REVIEW: Ant-Man
The infamous Ant-Man movie is finally out. Now we can finally answer the question of whether or not this solo hero project measures up to the Marvel films and sequels before it. With a hero known as “Ant-Man” stuck between the Avengers, it can go either way. Woe to those, there will be spoilers. And ants. Lots and lots of ants.
With that warning out of the way, let’s delve deeper into the actual plot. Years ago in 1989, Dr. Hank Pym broke ties with a still-Peggy Carter run SHIELD and an older Howard Stark to keep his formula for the Pym Particle safe, especially after the loss of his wife Janet two years prior due to subatomic shrinking. In present time, Darren Cross, the new head of Pym Technologies, has been killing sheep over reinventing the formula and wants to sell it to the highest bidder. Because the guy screams “generic bad guy with no redeeming qualities,” Hank finds someone to help him and his daughter Hope Van Dyne to steal the data back.
Enter Scott Lang, a former electrical engineer-turned-modern Robin Hood who siphoned millions from his corrupt boss and is now paying the price for being an ex-burglar (not robber, there’s a distinction). Since he can’t hold done a job with his record, and he can’t see his daughter without paying child support, Scott agrees to work with Hank in pulling off the ultimate heist to find the suit, destroy all information about it, and, of course, save the world from ultimate chaos.
Aside from the constant onslaught of how this mission is to “save the world” in whatever vague circumstances, Ant-Man’s fine as a smaller project, and yes, those are the words I am using to describe this. The world’s not necessarily in danger, but there’s still a threat in a powerful suit being in the wrong hands as witnessed by the multiple Iron Man films. There’s nothing wrong in having a superhero face things that don’t involve a city crashing down on planet Earth and threatening the human race. Sometimes it can be a good old-fashioned fistfight.
Still, there are some other fun things in the movie, mostly in the special appearances. In the opening scene alone, we see an older Peggy Carter as well as Howard Stark playing their roles as heads of SHIELD. Not to mention a spectacular fight scene cameo with Sam Wilson AKA the Falcon in his brand new flight suit now with more red. While the movie probably could and should stand on its own without their appearances, they’re just plain great and don’t take away anything from the story. No matter how small the film goes, it’s nice to remember that there’s still something bigger out there.
Since this is the last Marvel film of the year, Ant-Man spices things up with adding plenty universal references in addition to the faces. SHIELD still has a notable role in being Hank’s former place of work, and Hydra’s still out to cause trouble (though apparently they aren’t what they used to be). Scott even has some sense to call the Avengers for the “world-threatening” device, but we get nothing for now. On the other hand, it might be for the best considering the Avengers aren’t that great in the eyes of Hank or the news. Look out for a newspaper clip reading “Who’s to blame for Sokovia?” Also, Ant-Man is now most definitely a Phase 2 film with Darren Cross losing an arm. In the end.
The movie still has another surprise in being the first Marvel movie in a while to have not one but two post-credit scenes. The first is the standard sequel-predictor in Hope finally and rightfully receiving the Wasp suit, but it’s the second that’s going to have people talking. The scene takes place in the middle of Civil War and features Captain America and the Falcon finally locating Bucky Barnes. Without Tony Stark to call on, Sam states that he “knows a guy.” Not only is this our first footage of the not-so-upcoming film, the scene actually gives us a hint on the state of Civil War and Ant-Man’s role. Since Age of Ultron didn’t necessarily hint well about the things to come, it’s actually good that Ant-Man can hint about some tension between Tony and Steve while also suggesting that Scott could actually work for Steve’s side at least briefly.
Getting back to the actual movie, Ant-Man works with its vast comic-book history to go around the whole “no origin story” thing while still introducing new characters. Hank’s an experienced scientist creating reality-bending technology, Scott’s a pretty knowledgeable former thief with a sense of justice and a desire to do right by his daughter, and Hope is a trained operative with a few chips on her shoulder after losing her mother. Those things are pretty clear as are the concepts of the Pym Particles. Since this is a small movie, there’s not much more to than that, but it’s enough to carry this picture and hint at the future. With Scott growing himself out of the microverse, there may be a GI-Ant Man yet.
That being said, the emotional aspects are nothing to really call attention. Sure, the characters have an interesting history, but their problems are almost completely separated from the action. The issue between Hope and Hank is solved before the heist can begin, and Scott’s problems are just blinked away apparently. I could get by him getting money from the very successful Hank, but it felt odd that everything just gets better for him. Then again, the same thing happens to Tony Stark in every movie. At least Scott Lang’s a man who deserves it.
Whatever anybody says, this is definitely a heist film. Most of the movie focuses around one case or another whether it’s Scott’s plan to break into the safe, the break-in at the Avengers facility, or the major plan at Pym Technologies. There’s plenty of action with the suit jumping through the city or flying with his buddy ANTony, may he rest in peace, but only choice scenes see any real superhero action for justice or to save the world. Even the setup is small.
One of the highlights of the film is still the shrinking effects. Yeah, the power to shrink and control ants is weird no matter what name’s attached to the project, but the movie manages to make it exciting enough for an action sequence. Ant-Man is probably the only movie, Marvel or not, where we could see a fight inside a briefcase or on a toy trainset and still take it semi-seriously. I got to hand it to the film for at least trying something new even though it could never measure up to an Avenger flick.
Ant-Man was never going to be the massive outbreak The Avengers was, even if Edgar Wright was still attached. It was also not going to be the surprise that Guardians of the Galaxy ended up being, proving that Marvel can indeed do anything. The thing is, though, Ant-Man is not bad. In the long run, it’s pretty harmless set between two Avengers movies, though it does need to be a good indication of a Marvel project beyond a sequel. Ant-Man has a few too many issues to give someone comfort about the solo projects, but it’s fun nonetheless. For a guy like Ant-Man, that’s all that really matters.
