Ant-Man (2015) Movie Review

By Kevin A. Jackson (@K53Jackson)

It’s not how you ride the ant, it’s how you pull off the heist.

Forced out of his own company by former protégé Darren Cross, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) recruits the talents of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a master thief just released from prison. Lang becomes Ant-Man, trained by Pym and armed with a suit that allows him to shrink in size, possess superhuman strength and control an army of ants. The miniature hero must use his new skills to prevent Cross, also known as Yellowjacket, from perfecting the same technology and using it as a weapon for evil.

Ant-Man, is a man who shrinks to a size of an ant, can control and ride ants, ‘nough said. This is great beginning to what is hoped to be a few more (action, sci-fi, comedy) Ant-Man films to come.

This piece of dialogue between Scott and Hank pretty much sums up the movie:

Scott: My Days of breaking into places and stealing [stuff] are over! What do you want me to do?

Hank: …I want you to break in a place and steal some [stuff].

The concept is good given that we are establishing a Marvel Comic character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now given that the heart of the premise was more of a heist movie, a Michael Mann/Frank Pierson embellishment would had been nice for Edgar Wright to have been inspired by on top of his Simon Pegg film style that was absent in Ant-Man, within the screenplay.

Ant-Man is defiantly a fan boy and girl film for all ages (although PG-13). Anyone who loves Ant-Man will love seeing him filmed on Panavision. For the non fans of comic books and comic book films this film is pretty much your Summer Blockbuster fair, though better than you would expect. Moreover, that famous comic book relationship between Scott and Hope will have to wait till Ant-man 2, unfortunately.

Ant-Man is definitely an original high-concept superhero for the big screen. Not since Lily Tomlin’s Incredible Shrinking Woman, James Bolin’s Fantastic Voyage, Meg Ryan’s Innerspace, and best of all Rick Moranis’ Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, have you had such fun watching a person shrink. A little trivia is that Ant-Man was not developed in the 80’s due to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids being made at the time. Waiting twenty-five years for Ant-Man was a bit too long.

“This is your chance to earn that look in your daughters eyes, to become the hero that she already thinks you are,” Hank says to Scott. The film’s theme wasn’t strong enough on the father/daughter relationship as Transformers was with a boy and his car. “It’s not about saving our world. It’s about saving theirs,” was touching line from Hank to Scott and essentially is what the movie was about even though it was weak in delivering that poignant message. Filmmakers state the theme is “passing the torch,” which is visible in watching Ant-Man as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, as a stand alone film the theme of ‘second chances’ seems to out-play the ‘passing of the torch.’ Moreover, subplots were fair to say the least; some Chinatown-esque subplots would had been nice the enrich the Pym’s company premise.

Overall, the movie was well done in true Marvel excellence. Kevin Feige is doing a fantastic job and the effort he puts towards these films is to be commended. The predictability, is to be desired, there are no twists and turns similar to those in other work by Edgar Wright.

The characters played well to the comic standards even though you won’t be getting any Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) character richness that you would want in this family affair between Scott, Hope and Hank. The casting is superb, Paul Rudd could not had been casted any better; however, his background in the film needed more depth. Michael Pena was fantastic as the comedic relief. Most of all, seeing Michael Douglas in this role was perfect. Pierce Bronson, who was up for the role, would had had a different line on the character, which might have been fun too. Stan Lee’s cameo is one of the best yet. Moreover, the villain, Darren Cross, was cookie-cutter and lackluster and is Bug-B-Gone’d by the movie’s end.

The contemporary setting in San Francisco, where it was mainly shot, was fine, given that San Francisco seems to be in every major release this Summer, is getting a bit overused. Setting this movie in some other tax-incentive states other than Georgia (where it was also shot at Pinewood Studios) would be a nice change of scenery. Although, the production design was great location scouting in choosing Hank’s home. Pym’s facility wasn’t half bad either.

The Ant-Man suit is fantastic, realistic and not gimmicky, that will look great in ten, even twenty, years from now. A real masterpiece there. Too bad the Academy won’t think that, for at least a nod in costume design, eh.

The visual effects were fantastic. Without giving away spoilers, the ants will stand the test of time, the train set scene is realistically done and the Thomas Train is hilarious. The macro photography used in this film is a what made all the difference in this film being a great ride that we can all enjoy and don’t feel we are in some animated world but instead in that of our own live-action world. Superb job! As was the great mime-esque stunts that were executed. The cinematography was done crisply by Russell Carpenter, who had a nod to his academy award-winning work for Titanic in the film with a few lines of jokes about the Titanic ship and movie.

While the story and screenplay is in part done by Edgar Wright, he was to direct before dropping due to “creative differences.” While the film is well done, it does miss that Edgar Wright touch and it is quite noticeable and would had been a vastly different film than what is presented before us by Peyton Reed of Bring It On (and a few other romantic comedies). Perhaps, this was a bit too much to chew for Reed but he handled it well. Though much like Superman 2 (1980), there is a much added difference between the theatrical film and the Richard Donner cut DVD release. That same difference would apply here in having seen an Edgar Wright directed film. Here’s hoping Edgar can be back for Ant-man 2, eh.

Recommendation: B- (IMDB 8.0)

Overall: this is a great film to see up close and personal with or without the kids in tow but definitely a must watch now (in the theater) rather than later (i.e. Blu-Ray) type of film. Don’t forget to stay till the very end of the credits, it’ll be worth it.

In surfing Amazon I found a few things I defiantly would want for Christmas:

This is a prelude graphic novel:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785197982/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=R5IAPLNHBI1G&coliid=IX9OEECM6I5P6

If you love Funko Pop toys:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V8MX8CG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=R5IAPLNHBI1G&coliid=I1MCLZ6DM5VBWC

If your looking for more Ant-Man story then the graphic novel might be a hold over till the next film, eh:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785163867/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=R5IAPLNHBI1G&coliid=I25GF6H0MIU6VX

The next best thing to a statue, and these toys usually have great details that make them fun to look at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T7VSSZ2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=R5IAPLNHBI1G&coliid=IA054M0ENEA6Y

If you love comics, you’ll love this cover:

http://www.amazon.com/Ant-Man-Cover-Skottie-Young-Baby/dp/B00S30C1RE/ref=sr_1_85?ie=UTF8&qid=1437125600&sr=8-85&keywords=ant-man

If your die hard Ant-Man fan you’ll want to add this to your Funko collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Ant-Man-Exclusive-Figure-Unmasked/dp/B0108WYD4I/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1437124549&sr=8-14&keywords=ant-man

P.S.: This is my first film review, be kind, eh.