ANT-MAN Directed by Peyton Reed, Written by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd, Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian and Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, Rated PG-13 for “sci-fi action violence,” Running time 117 minutes, In wide release July 17, 2015.
Ant-Man. That character doesn’t really have the gravitas or recognition as the rest of the huge cast of Marvel characters, and most people probably haven’t heard of him until now that his movie is coming out. Of course, we could have said the same about Rocket Raccoon, Groot and the rest of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” before last summer. Just as they are now household names, it won’t be surprising to find that Ant-Man won’t soon be on everyone’s mind once he explodes onto the world this Friday.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is an ex-con, and a bad one at that. Sent to jail for hacking and stealing money from his old, corrupt employer, he is now out of prison and looking to find work and put his life back together. Desperate to get visitation rights for his daughter, he agrees to do one last job and break into an old millionaire’s home to steal whatever contraband is hiding in a safe in the basement.
This isn’t just any old millionaire, though, this is Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) who created the Pym Particle and used it to become the Ant-Man and work on SHIELD missions decades ago. Worried that his invention might be used for evil instead of good, Hank has hidden away his technology and refused to let anyone use it for military operations. That hasn’t sat well with Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) who was Pym’s one time protégé before overthrowing him in a hostile takeover and taking full control of the company and trying to develop his own miniature military tech.
Lang manages to break into Pym’s safe and steals the Ant-Man suit — that lets him shrink to the size of an insect yet still have the power of a full sized person — only to learn that it was all an elaborate test by Pym to find someone worthy to use the suit to stop Cross and his Yellowjacket project. Trained by Pym and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), Lang is faced with a race against time to pull off a daring heist and also salvage his last chance at having a normal life and getting his daughter back.
Adam and Andy (Citizen-Bot) got a chance to see it a few days ago, and both wanted to chime in with their thoughts.
Citizen-Bot: Loved it. Paul Rudd owns this movie, and it’s evident the script touches he and Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) put into this. It is funny and has more straight up jokes in it than any other Marvel movie. It also has multiple hilarious cameos, not just the obligatory Stan Lee, but that was done excellently here. What’s even better is how generous they, as screenwriters, are at sharing the film with Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly. This is almost just as much their movie as Rudd’s, as they essentially have to train him via montage to become the hero we need. Hank, Scott, and Hope form a triad here as memorable and awesome as Luke-Han-Leia.
Adam McDonald: I’m right there with you, and I’m absolutely shocked that not only was Marvel able to do this, but that they did it with gusto! A decent movie would have been an accomplishment, but they managed to pull off a great one. And yes, almost everyone gets their moment to shine and has something interesting to do which is often not the case in the big budget, action movies. Hats off to McKay, Rudd and Wright for delivering such a successful script and also fully understanding the characters they were writing for.
Citizen-Bot: I loved the visual touch Peyton Reed brought to this. While a lot of that credit also has to go to Edgar Wright, who helped develop much of the film (and co-wrote the screenplay), this is visually fun and kinetic in a way a lot of other movies aren’t. I’m consistently amazed at the ability of directors working within Marvel Studios to deliver movies that are thematically consistent and feel like they share the same universe, but also have distinct feels to them: Favreau’s “Iron Man” vs. Shane Black’s “Iron Man”; James Gunn’s “Guardians”, Whedon’s “Avengers.” These films feel very personal and like a beautiful marriage of directors’ styles with the existing properties we know and love.
Adam McDonald: While we’ll never get the chance to see Wright’s vision fully realized, the bones of his movie are still very present and helped shape the narrative we received. That said, this is definitely Reed’s film, and it’s good to see that he made it his own. His previous work with rom-coms is evident, and he filmed this movie with a certain sense of whimsy that we haven’t seen in the rest of Marvel portfolio. As you said, this is easily the funniest movie from the studio, but that was how they had to approach it to make it work. Ant-Man is a ridiculous character and to try and make him serious would have just made the movie laughable.
Citizen-Bot: The effects in this movie are amazing, too. They manage to digitally de-age Michael Douglas for a key flashback sequence and he looks not a day older than Gordon Gecko or President Andrew Shepard. The army of ants that help Scott and Hank are incredibly fun, too. The kinetic scenes of Ant-Man taking out security guards and the climactic fight with the Yellowjacket suit that was teased in the trailer is amazing to behold. You’ll never believe a speck could be so powerful. You’ll also never cry so much at the death of an ant. (Ok, maybe in “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”)
Adam McDonald: I heard more than a few people in the audience yell out, “holy crap!” when they got a glimpse of young Michael Douglas, and I was blown away too. The CGI was brilliant there and throughout yet never felt gratuitous. Maybe it was because the effects were rendered so well that they seemed like an organic part of the movie or because the director knew that in such an effects heavy movie like this that he had to be more subtle with them and not garishly throw them in the audience’s faces.
Citizen-Bot: I’m also amazed at how kid-friendly this movie was. Despite some action scenes, this really isn’t that far from the PG rating that all but 1 of the Star Wars movies got. For comparison, both “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” were rated PG for “Sustained sequences of sci-fi action and violence” while “Ant-Man” receives a PG-13 for “sci-fi action and violence.” *Sigh* The fickle, arbitrary MPAA. . .
I’d have no problem taking my kids to this . . . but I also haven’t had that much problem with “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Avengers.” Even though certain things in those movies give me pause as a parent, really nothing in “Ant-Man” does. There’s a lot of Disney magic in here.
Adam McDonald: They more gave it the rating for the language than the violence, and there really wasn’t that much of either. The MPAA sucks and often incorrectly rates movies, but it’s safe to say that Marvel was trying for the PG-13 rating. They perfectly skirt the border between ratings to get the one that will give them the higher box office.
Citizen-Bot: And that ending post-credits scene. Between that and some of the other surprises in the movie, I’m excited to see how Scott, Hank, and especially Hope, end up participating in the Marvel Civil War. It would be especially cool if it divided their little family. It’s probably too much to hope for a Paul Rudd cameo in the Jessica Jones Netflix series, but one of the best parts of the “Alias” comics it’s based on was where Jess and Scott Lang go on a date.
Final Rating
Citizen-Bot: I’m going with 8/10. The film suffers a tiny bit from having to be an origin story, so that slows it down a little bit. I don’t love it as much as “Avengers” or “Guardians”, but it’s getting close. Bring the kids, and don’t bother with 3D. But do see it on the biggest screen you can. Tiny hero, Huge spectacle.
Adam McDonald: I’m a tiny bit above you at a 9/10. I can forgive origin story-itis because every franchise has to start somewhere, and few are as entertaining and enjoyable as “Ant-Man’s.” In fact, “Guardians” was probably the only Marvel movie that escaped that trope. The 3D was perfectly fine and didn’t detract from the movie, especially since it was already a really bright film to begin with, so if that’s the only option, it’s not horrible. IMAX it all the way though! Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a so brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from the original Ant-Man — Garrett Morris. It’s subtle touches like this that makes “Ant-Man” one of the best Marvel has yet to offer. Go see it, multiple times!