Marvel’s Ant-Man Is Fun, But It Seems Like A Rehash.

I expected moar.

Let it be said that I’m a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is perhaps the first time that a film studio has ever taken the risk of creating multiple characters that come from wildly different backgrounds and putting them in a shared universe that fans can track. Of course, it has resulted in properties that range from the fantastic (Agents of SHIELD, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) to the just plain awful (Jessica Jones, Agent Carter). So, where does Ant-Man stand now that I’ve finally gotten around to seeing it?

It’s fun, but it seems like a rehash of the first Iron Man.

The Plot

Paul Rudd does a great job.

Down on his luck and out of a job, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) turns back to his old ways of being a criminal. He ends up entering the home of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), which pushes him into a new heist. Pym and Hope want Scott to become the new Ant-Man in order to sneak into one of their old laboratories and steal a similar suit codenamed Yellow Jacket before it can be sold to the highest bidder by Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).

The plot is well-written, but like I said, it seems like it has too many connections to the first Iron Man movie. A wealthy protege of a powerful businessman is secretly sort of evil and wants to sell military technology to people? I feel like this movie deserves better, especially since it seems like there is a good film underneath all of that potential baggage. The plot does have some interesting ideas, though, such as how Lang has to steal a part from the Avengers and the involvement of HYDRA. I just thought it could have been better.

The Cast

The villain doesn’t always have to match the hero, Marvel. You know that, right?

Paul Rudd is very convincing as Scott Lang and Ant-Man, especially since much of the movie has him getting used to his powers. He does a good job of bringing across the lighter tone of the film, especially when you compare it to the previous chapters in the saga. Michael Douglas does a nice job as Hank Pym, but he’s already a legend so you’d expect that from an actor of his caliber. If there is one plus that this move has over the other Marvel movies, it’s that Corey Stoll does a better job at being a villain than Jeff Bridges did. It felt like he was having a blast and he brought quite a bit of menace to the role without seeming overly creepy.

Unfortunately, the same praise cannot be given to other parts of the cast. I know that I should probably cut Abby Fortson some slack because it might have been the script or direction’s fault, but I think that her performance was an issue that could have used some more polish because of your usual “child actor” problems. In a similar manner, Judy Greer was just kind of there, which is a waste of her talents considering her impressive work on Archer and other comedies.

The World-Building

A cameo? How nice!

I liked the fact that this movie is a little bit self-aware and says what we are all thinking, namely why they can’t just call in the Avengers. It’s that attention to detail that keeps me coming back to these movies, especially since they actually did reference that hallowed superhero team in this movie by bringing in Anthony Mackie as the Falcon. I liked the fact that they used the appearance not just to set up Ant-Man’s potential appearance in Captain America: Civil War, but also to advance the plot in a meaningful way.

On top of that, this is probably the first Marvel film in a long time that ever showed the hilarious ways that comic books can use technology, especially through the use of the Particle Discs. Part of the reason why I liked this movie was all of the hilarious ways that the technology was used alongside the sense of scale that the cinematography invoked. An ant blows up to the size of a dog. A Thomas: The Tank Engine toy destroys the side of a house. Objects that could have been threatening shrink to nothing. A collision seems terrifying to the characters, but harmless to us. This is one of those stories that captures the language of film in a unique way.

The Downsides

I don’t know what it is with Evangeline Lilly and romantic roles, but that part of the plot did not work in The Hobbit and it did not work here. We are supposed to buy that Hope likes Scott Lang to the point that she wants to make out with him, but there is no build-up or any indication that these two characters have a romantic connection. There was no extensive flirting or even a subtle innuendo, so I couldn’t buy it at all.

Conclusion

Ant-Man gets a resounding “meh” out of me. It isn’t bad, but it certainly isn’t on par with the heights that this franchise is capable of reaching. It might be worth your time if you have nothing to do and two hours to kill, but I’d rather watch The Winter Soldier again.

Man, was that film great.