Con-man Scott Lang must take up the mantle of Ant-Man to both save the world from the villainous Darren Cross and the Yellowjacket and to prove to himself and his daughter that he is the hero he was born to be.
Ant-Man is the first movie in the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, each phase culminating in an Avengers film. Plagued by setbacks, re-writes and the fact that Edgar Wright had been trying to get this made for years before stepping aside to let Peyton Reed step in, all of these were indications that Ant-Man was destined to be Marvel's first misfire. Well, indications were wrong. Ant-Man is a fantastic start to the third phase of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man is also the counter to the summer's earlier Marvel film, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which many said was a little too serious (I didn't get it, but you can't make everyone happy). Ant-Man puts the fun back into the dsyFUNctional superhero. While we get some good drama, there is also a lot of funny scenes.
Rudd does for Ant-Man what Robert Downey Jr. did for Iron Man, what Chris Evans did for Captain America and what Chris Pratt did for Guardians of the Galaxy. He brings the Ant-Man to life. Just like what Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau did with the first Iron Man, Rudd and Reed do with this movie. They take a lesser-known character and turn him into an A-lister (Don't get me wrong, Iron Man has always been relevant, but Downey Jr. took the character to all-new heights).
Rudd is perfectly cast as Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man. His dry sense of humor plays perfectly in a role where you can't take yourself too seriously. Michael Douglas, on the other hand, brings a very down-to-earth, realistic genius in Hank Pym (aka the first Ant-Man). He is stern, serious, loving, a father; he encapsulates the character, and you see later on in the movie why he is the way he is (obviously). Corey Stoll brings the evil craziness as Pym Industries CEO Darren Cross (aka Yellowjacket). His motivations are simple, and he makes it so easy to hate him, but you love watching him do it.
Fans of the comic books will always have a feeling of nervousness/excitement because we have received great performances and some horrible performances, and that goes for the supporting cast. Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne and Michael Pena as Luis are great side characters and are given some great scenes. Lilly's character (not her performance) starts off very stiff. She is the daughter of Hank Pym and sees no value in Scott Lang, but we do move past all of that by the time we reach the third act. Oh, but the scene-stealer of the movie is Scott's daughter Cassie, played absolutely brilliantly by Abby Ryder Fortson.
The only real trip up by Peyton Reed in this movie would be his directing with the fight scene at the end. He tries to hard to really show how a fight between two people who can shrink and grow would look and at times it makes it seem a bit disjointed and would every now and then pull you out of the fight scene. Don't get me wrong, I loved how you see Thomas the Tank get moving then look like it's hitting a brick wall. That's my only complaint. The fight scenes when they are tiny and when they are full-grown are fantastic. The times we see Ant-Man at "any size" the graphics were insanely good. The writing is another fantastic plus. Reed did use some of Edgar Wright's original script and is able to make this movie, like the other Marvel films, something that really pulls emotion out of these characters and puts them on the big screen in such a genuine fashion. He makes you feel for the ants. That's right, good fans, you love the ants in this. That is probably the only time you will ever see this written on this website.
However, for all the comic book fans out there. There has been quite a bit of fanboy whining that all Marvel villains (outside of Loki) are all one and done despite the fact that Marvel has some of the best villains, and it is a shame that the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't really get to revisit these characters. Is Yellowjacket on the level of a Red Skull or Green Goblin? No, but it would be nice to see a villain come back for another movie, but hey, we'll just have to wait and see what Ant-Man 2 has in store for us, cause there will most assuredly be a follow-up to this movie. The other great thing about any Marvel movie is the Easter Eggs and this movie does not disappoint. We get to see some fan favorites from past Iron Man and Captain America films.
Ant-Man is the start to a MCU phase that will see other lesser-known Marvel properties such as Dr. Strange and Black Panther get introduced, and much like with last summer's Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel took a risk and swung and really knocked it out of the park with this one. Go watch the movie and then go watch it again and remember, STAY UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE CREDITS!
