‘Ant-Man’ Review: A Classic Marvel Origin Story That Never Gets Too Big

The ‘Ant-Man’ review is in and Marvel has churned out another watchable origin story for a character most fans probably didn’t know about until this movie came out…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand each year with new characters and different storylines, there are going to be some new faces popping up that just aren’t as iconic as Captain America or even Iron Man.

Actually, Iron Man is a great comparison when speaking about the new film ‘Ant-Man’ that opens in theaters nationwide on Friday.

When director Jon Favreau teamed up with Robert Downey Jr. to bring Iron Man to the big screen, most believed it would never work. At the time, Iron Man was seen as a fringe character in the comic book world and the only truly successful franchises that also worked as films were those based around names like Spider-Man or Batman. No one believed at the time that a ‘B’ level superhero like Iron Man could carry his own film and get people to turn out in droves to see the movie.

Thankfully all the naysayers were wrong because ‘Iron Man’ served as the launching pad for Marvel to essentially take over the box office at least once or twice a year ever since with movie after movie after movie just crushing the competition financially and with the critics, which is no easy feat for superhero movies.

Marvel flexed its muscles again last year with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ coming out of nowhere with characters no one had ever heard about before and director/writer James Gunn somehow took a one-word talking tree man, a foul-mouthed raccoon, a green chick, a former pro wrestler and the adorable Chris Pratt and turn it into one of the most profitable movies of all time. It was just further proof that Marvel doesn’t need a marquee name to bring people to the theater — they’ll come because the Marvel name is attached and then it’s up to the writers, directors and performers to do their part.

Well when it comes to ‘Ant-Man’ — despite the original director leaving the project over creative difference with the studio — Marvel has managed to churn out another highly watchable origin story with a character most people didn’t know until recently.

Plot

The story kicks off in 1989 as idealistic scientist Hank Pym butts heads with the higher ups at S.H.I.E.L.D. (look for a couple familiar faces in this bunch) about a piece of technology that he worked on and eventually shelved that could shrink a human being and objects down to the size of an ant. The ‘Pym particle’ was the scientist’s greatest achievement but also his greatest fear because if the technology slipped into the wrong hands it could be disastrous on a global scale.

Fast forward to present day and we meet Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) — a cat burglar who got busted stealing from the rich to give to the poor and he’s just finishing up a three year bid in prison for his antics. When he’s released, all Scott wants to do is provide for his daughter, who is growing up quickly without him as a father, while also trying to prove to his ex-wife that he can do more than rob people for money as an occupation.

Unfortunately, Scott finds out what a lot of ex-cons do when they finish serving their time — no one wants to give a felon a second chance. So he reverts back to his life of crime to try and come up with the money to start a new life and get visitation rights back with his daughter but little does he know that Pym has been watching him for quite some time and he believes this former thief is the perfect person to help him in his war to stop a protégé named Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who took over his company and now stands on the verge of duplicating his shrinking formula before selling it to the highest bidder.

Just what Pym was scared about before when he was at odds with S.H.I.E.L.D. — if this formula falls in the wrong hands, bad things are going to happen in hurry.

So along with his daughter Hope, who is working as a spy in Cross’ lab, Hank hopes to aim Scott directly at his former student to stop him before this shrinking man technology lands in the wrong hands.

Acting

Marvel always seems to get casting right on the money and ‘Ant-Man’ is no different.

Paul Rudd is best known for his funny man roles in films like ‘I Love You, Man’ and ‘Role Models’ and he doesn’t lose that comedic edge playing ‘Ant-Man’ but we also see that he’s got a heart of gold especially when interacting with his on screen daughter. Rudd has much better range than maybe some directors have given him credit for in the past and he’s gone from sideshow leading laugh man to a legitimate action star with this film. A wise-cracking-reluctant-at-first-superhero and Rudd pulls it off to perfection.

The real score in this movie was Marvel landing Michael Douglas to play Hank Pym because he’s not only one of the best working actors in Hollywood today, but he truly attacked this role with the same kind of ferocity he has in all of his award winning movies as well. Douglas plays cold and calculating just as well as he plays quick witted and funn and he gets to show a little bit of all sides in this movie.

Corey Stoll is quickly becoming one of the most versatile actors in movies and TV today and although his character Darren Cross is one twisty mustache away from being the most atypical movie villain of all time, he still manages to pull it all together in the end. Evangeline Lilly also does a great job in the movie and it’s good to see her land another major role that will likely lock her up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for at least a few more films.

One more thing to note — the comedic sidekicks played by Michael Pena, rapper T.I. Tip Harris and David Dastmalchian are spot on additions to the film and play great next to Rudd whenever he needs to hit a funny note in the movie.

Directing and Writing

Peyton Reed was going to have tough shoes to fill no matter what kind of movie he turned out after Edgar Wright was famously working on this project for more than five years before he got bounced just as production was about to kick off. It appeared ‘Ant-Man’ was doomed, but somehow Reed pulled it all together and managed to make a great Marvel movie when it was all said and done.

The script was also re-worked after Wright left the project and overall everything from the dialogue to the plot twists and turns worked out famously.

‘Ant-Man’ isn’t going to blow you away in the same fashion that ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ might have done, but Reed did a bang up job bringing heart, comedy and some kick ass action scenes to a movie that could have easily fallen apart without Wright around to guide the ship.

What’s Wrong with the Movie?

No matter how good a job Reed did with this film there’s still a part inside of me that wonders what an Edgar Wright ‘Ant-Man’ movie would have looked like?

Wright is a visionary writer and director and it looked like he was on the verge of turning out something similar to what Gunn did with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. It’s impossible not to think about that when watching ‘Ant-Man’ but in no way does it take away from the solid work Reed and company did to salvage the movie after the original director was given an unceremonious exit.

If there’s one other complaint to make it might be the lack of detail given to Darren Cross’ character as the lead villain, but really he’s actually just window dressing anyways because the entire point of the movie was to introduce Scott Lang as ‘Ant-Man’ and that was done without a single bump in the road over two hours of movie.

Final Verdict

Don’t go into the theater expecting ‘Ant-Man’ to be as deep as ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ or as revolutionary as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and you absolutely will not be disappointed in this movie.

Everything hits on this film and the addition of a certain Avenger for one scene in the movie is just brilliant. ‘Ant-Man’ doesn’t directly tie into other Marvel movies that are already out there, but the inclusion of an Avenger and Scott’s interaction with him/her is a great introduction between the two worlds.

Also don’t forget this is a Marvel movie so make sure you stay for the post credits scene and the post-post credits scene. Both of them are crucial for the future of ‘Ant-Man’ when it comes to the Marvel Universe.

Ant-Man scores a 4 out of 5 on the Skolnick scale