Zach Goodier
Ant-Man stars Paul
Rudd and Michael Douglas as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Dr. Pym. Together, they
attempt to stop the release of Pym’s research to Hydra by Pym’s former
assistant: Daren Cross. Scott starts out as a former con who is desperate to
get his life back on track and reconnect with his daughter. He tries to start
an honest life, but his criminal record almost guarantees that nobody will hire
him, forcing him to seek out other means of paying his bills. This is how Scott
hears that a guy with a vault in his basement is leaving town for a week, and
Lang and his friends decide to break in to steal the contents. It is in the
vault that Scott finds a strange suit, the suit used by Ant-Man. It is soon
revealed that Pym leaked the info on his own vault so Scott would steal it, and
Pym could scout out his talent with the suit and determine if he can be the
next Ant-Man.
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| You might not see a comic-book hero, but he'll surprise you. |
The story is well done, with Scott’s story providing a
tragic situation due to his criminal record and desperation to get back in his
daughter’s life. This makes Scott a very relatable character right from the
start, and you feel invested in where his story goes. Michael Douglas also does
a fantastic job of Pym, with him coming across as very lonely, yet driven in
his pursuit to stop his research from tearing the world apart with more super
soldiers like him.
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| Hank Pym is the creator of all the shrinking tech, which his associates, and former understudy, are out to replicate. |
Daren Cross feels like another great character, with his
anger over Pym’s distant and secretive nature making him feel somewhat
justified in his pursuits, even if you know they must be stopped. The Cross/Pym
conflict that unfolds around Scott offers the chance for both characters to
really come to life a lot more than they would have if they had be forced to
take a backseat to Scott’s story, and it all really works out well, with
everything being easy to follow despite these separate conflicts going on.
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| Pym's daugher, Hope, is skeptical of Scott's chances, but of course she eventually warms up to him... a lot. |
The action is great, even if there isn’t a great deal of
actual fighting taking place. There is a great fight between Ant-Man and
Falcon, which unfolds as Scott is still learning about his powers, but it
allows for a great cameo, and a nice tie-in to the rest of the Marvel universe.
The fight between Scott and Daren Cross is great, when Cross puts on the Yellow
Jacket suit and they fight in their shrunken forms. The comedy is great as the
epic fight between these two is often put in perspective as their epic clash is
only knocking over small objects like toys and such. But most of the movie is
just a great CGI work with Ant-Man interacting with the world as a miniature
man, almost always unnoticed by the rest of the world.
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| Choo choo! |
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| Yellowjacket might not be as thought at as the other characters, but he's meant to give the new Ant-Man that extra push. |
I would highly recommend giving this movie a shot, because the great humor, excellent characters, and brilliant action make this movie a worthy addition to the Marvel franchise. The only issue I had was a couple of small details here and there that distracted me with questions about the nature of Ant-Man’s powers, and if you’re into the more action side of the Marvel franchise, this might not satisfy, since there are only a couple major fight scenes in the whole movie, and neither one really lasts all that long. Still, this movie is a very worthy addition to the Marvel universe, and definitely worth going to see.
Good:
- Great casting on all major roles.
- Two major plotlines, and both are excellently done.
- Great humor.
Bad:
- Doesn’t feel as action-packed as some of the other Marvel
movies.
Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10
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