Ant-Man is a 2015 production from Marvel Studios. Directed by Peyton Reed with the screenplay written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd, last of which also portrays the main role in the film. He does that alongside co-stars like Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña and Anthony Mackie. The movie scores a 7.3/10 on IMDb and received a 64 Metascore
A Summary
Ant-Man tells the story of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a man with a criminal record who gets chosen to be the next Ant-Man and save the world afterwards. The threat? A former protegee of scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) named Darren Cross (Corey Stoll). He has plans to weaponize Pym’s research after finally reproducing the critical science behind it.
Pym’s daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) still works for Cross but he doesn’t know that she is double-crossing him by helping her father keep the research out of the wrong hands. Cross still isn’t able to shrink life down to the size of Ant-Man but with his Yellow Jacket suit he is coming closer and closer every day.
That is where Scott comes in. Pym set up a heist to test his skills. Scott does an excellent job and becomes Pym’s choice for the next Ant-Man, above his daughter Hope. We also learn that Scott cares deeply for his daughter Cassie, whom he has not been able to see much lately due to his criminal records and such.
When Scott learns that he can become a hero as Ant-Man, the hero his daughter always believed him to be, he agrees to help Pym and they start intensive training. They’re preparing for a heist at the research centre Cross uses for his Yellow Jacket research. First they need a piece of equipment from what they thaught to be an abanoded Stark storage unit. Turns out it is now the new Avengers headquarters. He runs into Sam “Falcon” Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and after a fight Scott manages to leave with the equipment.
The relationship between Hope and Hank hasn’t been the best, but after his mission Hank finally tells his daughter what happened to her mother. She shrank smaller than atoms and went subatomic while wearing the Wasp suit but never got out. This confession seems to better the relationship between the two.
The heist commences and it goes largely as planned until Cross takes the Yellow Jacket suit from its container while Ant-Man is inside. A large fight commences and Pym is shot as Cross manages to leave with a helicopter, unknowing that the heist included a plan to blow up his whole research centre. After the centre was destroyed, Ant-Man catches up to helicopter and a fight while in mid-air follows.
Cross, now in the Yellow Jacket suit, manages to escape when Scott gets interupted by police agents. He heads to Cassie’s house and takes her hostage. Scott knows he can only disable the Yellow Jacket suit if he shrinks to subatomic levels, so he does. He destroys the suit and manages to leave the subatmomic size, alive and well. That gives Pym hope that his wife might be able to get out as well.
The Story
Ant-Man takes movies to whole other level, literally I mean. The effects of shrinking to such sizes proved to be an interesting story aspect. I think the story made great use of this ability, with ants playing a large role in the tactics as well as constantly switching between forms. You can see why Pym thought his technology would be better hidden than in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D..
I do feel, however, that some of Pym’s actions are strange. Why would he select Scott Lang as the new Ant-Man, he hardly seems fit for the job seeing his criminal records, although they try to cover it up by making him seem emphatic with his victims. I also think that Pym’s reasoning behind not letting Hope be Ant-Woman is a bit weak. I get that he doesn’t want anything to happen to his daughter, but the whole morale which seems to be the red line in the MCU: save the world before yourself is lost here.
The villain has an ok backstory and motives but lacks the screentime and depth to become a memorable character. Some more explanation behind Pym choosing him as a student as well as the reasons for the break between them would’ve been a nice addition to the story.
The Characters
Scott Lang / Ant-Man
I doubt the reasons for him being chosen as the new Ant-Man, but he sure does take his chance. He proves to be a down-to-earth hero with some humour. The choice for Paul Rudd amplifies this character as he is an experienced actor in both comedy and drama. I think his backstory is interesting, but it left some gaps. Why would someone with an electrical engineering major go down the path of crimes, while he has a daughter whom he seems to care for very much?
Hank Pym & Hope Van Dyne
I think Micheal Douglas’ performance as Hank Pym lifted this movie to a higher level. He brings in some great acting as one of the major characters in the movie. Also, his dynamic with his daughter Hope was interesting to see unfold. They had their struggles as a family when their mother and wife went missing and they never healed those wounds, until Scott came along.
Darren Cross / Yellowjacket
As a villain, he majorly lacked danger but as a normal character, he proved interesting to story. His plans to research and sell Pym’s ideas were interesting to see alongside his rage taking over. Hope mentions that he has changed, seemingly due to shrinking, but we never saw him shrink before that moment which caused some confusion around his character for me. Furthermore, Yellowjacket was used only once and therefore didn’t feel like a strong or interesting villain to me.
The Production
I think this is where Ant-Man shines. The visual effects and shots during Scott’s time as an ant-sized man were amazing. They felt realistic and therefore every scene where Ant-Man was a tiny man gave me joy. Alongside this, the script was great as well. Silly things like Ant-Man hitting a toy train, causing the train just to derail got a great laugh out of me. Also, the giant ant and train were fun to see, especially when the ant got called ‘a weird looking dog’.