Ant-Man

The Marvel Cinematic Universe gets a little bigger and a lot smaller at the same time, as the astounding Ant-Man joins the ranks of on-screen heroes that have made Marvel the dominant box office force of the past seven years.

Marvel have done good work in getting audiences to swallow some outrageous material lately - Rocket Raccoon and Groot, anyone? - but a guy who shrinks to insect size and control ants is still a tough row to hoe, so director Peyton Reed (replacing Edgar Wright, who gets co-writing and EP credits) wisely leans into the comedic possibilities inherent in the premise, while still delivering a dramatically satisfying, if occasionally rote, story. 

This is made easier by presence of comedy mainstay Paul Rudd, the recently paroled thief with a heart of gold who gets embroiled in Dr Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas - great) mission to stop his former protege, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from selling his shrinking technology to the bad guys. 

Pym wants Lang to “...be the Ant-Man,” a proposition that the latter finds ludicrous - but he does want to be a better father to his button-cute daughter, especially now his ex-wife (Judy Greer) has a new man - a cop (Bobby Cannavale). Pym also has familial issues - his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) has never forgiven him for the death of her mother. So both men are on a redemption trip - a trip that involves heisting Cross’s “Yellowjacket” shrinking exo-suit from a heavily guarded compound.

This is Ocean’s 11, Marvel style, complete with a small crew of fast-quipping crims, headed by the brilliant Michael Pena. The stakes for the wider world are small compared to other films in the continuity - Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. would have knocked Cross’ plot on the head in half an episode - but Lang and Pym’s personal struggles are more profound than Tony Stark’s daddy issues ever were.

It almost goes without saying that the action is great, and is perhaps the most inventive we’ve seen in the wider franchise yet. Lang retains his strength when he shrinks, and the film gets a lot of mileage out of that and his ability to grow and shrink at will, developing a kind of ant-fu martial art style that sees him flipping goons around at will. We’ve seen the broad strokes of the plot before, of course, but the fun is in seeing how Ant-Man’s different power set provides different solutions: where Iron Man or Thor would simply blast through a wall, Lang has to be more circumspect in his approach (having said that, his first solution - “Call the Avengers!” is shot down by Pym with aplomb).

Bright, brisk and punchy, Ant-Man is a welcome change of pace following the sturm und drang of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Lang might have the sheer power of the franchise’s heavier hitters, but he’s a lot more relatable and fun to be around. Get ready to cheer for the little guy.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine