Ant-Man – review

With the Marvel Universe constantly expanding it is becoming more impressive what genres the studios are covering under the guise of superhero action films. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier audiences got a spy film and with Guardians of the Galaxy audiences were treated to a space action/comedy. With Ant-Man the superhero genre comes into a heist movie and it works really well.

Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, is a thief released from prison. Down on his luck and just wanting to have a relationship with his estranged daughter, he takes a burglary job to steal from Dr. Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas. As it turns out the job was actually a challenge to see if he would be capable enough to steal some technology from Hank’s former company.  To assist in this venture Scott becomes the superhero, Ant-Man. He is capable of controlling ants mentally as well as shrinking to microscopic size and re-growing at will.

If this were a typical heist movie it would have fallen into cliché. However, since the element of superheroes is involved it makes the movie fresh and seems like a unique take on the genre. The action is fun to watch and the effects make it believable that this character can do the fantastic things he can do.  There are some silly moments like a battle on a Thomas the Tank Engine train set that looks epic in small scale but like nothing when in normal size, but it adds to the entertainment as a whole.

The actors for the movie are all believable and likeable. Paul Rudd has clearly come a long way at his age to have a superhero body. Michael Douglas is also incredibly enjoyable as the first Ant-Man who experienced a great loss and has an estranged relationship with his daughter Hope, played by Evangeline Lilly. Corey Stroll is great as the villain. While we have seen him more as a jerk in a lot of other films, he portrays a lot of menace that comes off as threatening.  It was also particularly nice to see Bobby Cannavale not cast as a jerk for a change.

Ant-Man is a unique movie that accepts its challenge to entertain and succeeds. There are so many brooding and dark themes in superhero movies and a fun heist movie is absolutely the new blood this genre needs. I completely recommend seeing this movie. It is a fun inclusion to the Marvel Universe and it will be great to see where this character goes in future features.