Ant-Man

Maybe I should learn from this movie, Jurassic World, and Guardians of the Galaxy to not judge a movie by its trailer.

Ant-Man is the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, introduced in this action film, directed by Peyton Reed. It's the twelfth movie in the franchise, and is the thirteenth formal introduction of a new character into this franchise. Honestly, if anyone would have told me how big this universe would get when I saw Iron Man back in 2008, I wouldn't know how to react. But here we are, seven years later, with two Avengers films done, two more on the way, and many more introductions to come.

Ant-Man follows the story of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a former convict fresh out of San Quentin for uncovering a large money laundering business in a famous corporation. Scott is tight for money, and has a daughter who his ex-wife and new San Francisco police officer fiancee (Bobby Canavale) would him rather not see with his current state. Much to his chagrin, Scott decides to go back to heisting like he did before prison, and after being tipped off to a score being largely unprotected left in the open, he takes up the offer, only to find that it was set up by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) for Scott to acquire the Ant-Man suit. Scott decides to train up with help from Pym and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) to take down Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) who has recently developed a suit with similar powers. That's the most I can compress this plot without revealing spoilers.

Honestly, I doubted this movie since I heard that it was within the lineup of Marvel Phase 3. The idea of an Ant-Man feature was always rather odd to me, but lo and behold...Marvel did it, and they did it well. While the movie isn't necessarily that special in regards to superhero films, it does a good job introducing what could be a very pivotal character in future Avengers installments. The plot is decently laid out, showing the struggles of many different characters while still offering up the perfect doses of humour where needed (mostly coming from Michael Pena and T.I.), but it seems rather rushed in scenes, mainly in the beginning.

The casting is probably this movie's biggest light. Paul Rudd offers that just right selection of drama and comedy that a character like Scott would need, while Evangeline Lilly manages to be mildly mysterious while never really hiding, with that right amount of sexy to make it interesting. But, the biggest star here has to be Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. In the comics, I always enjoyed how crazy Pym's character was when under the influence of the Ant-Man suit, and Douglas perfectly portrays an old man who is seriously in regret for his past actions, but desperately wants to make progress towards the future. I almost want to say that Pym was the main character of the film, just with how much Douglas's performance resonated with me. I definitely hope old Michael sticks around with us, because I want to see more of Dr. Pym in movies to come.

But with every good casting choice comes a few poor ones, and I can only name two for this one. Corey Stoll plays Cross as a rather cliche'd villain. Most of the time, the character just seems rather pissed off that he didn't get his way and wants to make people pay. However, I can't fault him too much, because the movie does go out of its way to try and explain why he's acting like this (no spoilers), but it doesn't excuse what's mainly a forgettable character, much in the vein of Obidiah Stark in the original Iron Man. The other casting choice is Bobby Canavale as the new fiancee. I'm sorry, but was this character really needed, and if he was, did he need to be Scott's familial enemy? Honestly, I think this movie would have fared better without this run of the mill cop stepdad, honestly.

I'm going to give this one a 3.5 out of 5. There's things that could be improved, including pacing and casting, but otherwise, it's a solid effort. Marvel wows me once again, is all I can say...I still think Fantastic Four looks horrible, though.