Today I am
reviewing Marvel’s newest masterpiece, Ant-Man. And I am not using the word
Masterpiece lightly. Ant-Man is absolutely fantastic! All parts of this film
were great including the story, the characters, the actors, and the special
effects. But this movie was never a guaranteed success due to early production
problems and setbacks and honestly the character Ant-Man is an odd concept. The
first director and writer for the film was Edgar Wright and after years of
development he left the project due to creative differences with Marvel.
Production of Ant-Man started years ago before what we now know as the Marvel
Cinematic Universe had coalesced into what we see today. Edgar’s vision for
Ant-Man no longer matched the thematic and tonal characteristics of Marvel
studios, so it was better for both parties to go their separate ways.
After Edgar
left, Marvel hired Payton Reed to direct the film and brought in Adam McKay
along with their leading actor Paul Rudd to rewrite the screenplay originally
written by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. McKay and Rudd stated that they
rewrote the film in order to make it fit better into the MCU but that they
maintained the heart and core of Wright’s version. We will never know exactly
what was included in the original version and what was added or changed in
McKay and Rudd’s version but whatever the mixture was created a great story
that translated into a great film.
The story of
this film is broken down into a few simple tropes. First it is a heist film.
Our heroes Hank Pym, Hope Pym, and Scott Lang attempt to break into a top
secret facility in order to steal shrinking technology that would send the
world into chaos. We get all the classic heist film motifs involving planning
the heist, training for the heist, and even having to break into another
facility to recover the one tool needed to complete the job. This particular
scene was one of the highlights of the film. Scott must break into an old Stark
facility to steal a piece of tech that will allow them to completely wipe
Darren Cross’s memory core. But nothing is ever that simple. The facility turns
out to be the new Avengers base seen at the end of Age of Ultron. Scott goes up
against Falcon, beats Falcon, and recovers the device. What ensues is a classic
heist where the heist goes wrong, the villain goes after our hero’s loved ones,
and the hero must step up and put his or her life on the line to save the day. The
other highlight of the film was the climatic fight scene. What was so great
about this scene was it is a great fight between Ant-Man and Yellow Jacket
inside a young girl’s bedroom. It is one of the coolest fight scenes in a movie
I think I have ever seen. The whole idea of putting a fight inside a bedroom is
genius and it would only work in the context of this film. The results are that
the heist failed, but Scott saves the day, stops Yellow Jackets, and becomes a
true hero.
Another
theme is that the film is a redemption story. Scott is a criminal. He has been
in prison and has difficulty separating himself from the lifestyle of crime.
But Hank Pym gives him a chance to change and become a better man. He
eventually takes the offer and becomes that better man. He is redeemed in the
eyes of Hope, his friends, his ex-wife, and her new husband.
The final
theme of the story is that it is a story about fathers and daughters. There are
two father/daughter relationships in this film. The first is between Scott and
his young daughter. All Scott wants to do is be there for his daughter. To
provide for her. But due to his past he has difficulty paying child support and
without it he is not allowed to spend time with her. She idolizes him, but he
isn’t the person she thinks he is. So he seeks to be the man she thinks he is,
and that is his motivation for becoming Ant-Man. He never needed to be redeemed
in his daughter’s eyes, but he wanted to be better for her and he becomes that
better man. He is able to provide for his daughter and be there for her and be
the man she always thought he was. The other father/daughter relationship in
this movie is between Hank and Hope. This relationship need more fixing as
there was decades of animosity built up between them. After Hank’s wife died,
he dove into his work to try to recover her, but kept everything that happened
to her and what he was doing from Hope. All she saw was a man who was not there
for her when she needed it the most and who didn’t care for her. Then she voted
him out of his own company and they were estranged for years until Darren Cross
attempted to recreate Hank’s shrinking tech. Through working together to stop
Cross, Hank and Hope finally talk about what happened to her mother and talked
through their differences. They mended the break between them, realized how
much they actually care for each other, and now have a future where they can
have a lasting relationship. In the first post-credit scene, Hank gives Hope a
prototype Wasp suit. This action symbolizes the mending of their relationship
and the trust and confidence they now have in each other.
The special
effects for this movie were spectacular and needed to be for this film. The
idea of Ant-Man pushes towards the absurd and the effects played a big part in
making this movie just believable enough that you could suspend your disbelief.
The shrinking effects had to be good and all the effects when Ant-man was small
needed to be really good. The effects in this film may be the best in any
Marvel movie. All the ant animations were great. The digital environments
looked real. The use of the effects to push the story forward and to add flavor
to the battle scenes was great. The constant switching between big and small
made sense and added a layer to the fights that isn’t possible in any other
story. It also allowed them to use the effects for comedic effect, such as
during the train sequence. The effects in Age of Ultron felt rushed and
incomplete, but here they were almost perfect. This film was beautiful and was
successful because of the effects.
The story and
themes in this movie are great and are classic pieces of filmmaking. The
effects are brilliant. But none of it would work without great characters and great
actors playing those characters and this film has all of that. Hank Pym played
by Michael Douglas. Scott Lang played by Paul Rudd. Hope Pym played by
Evangeline Lily. Michael Pena as Luis. Anthony Mackie as Falcon. Abby Ryder
Fortson as Scott’s daughter Cassie. All these actors shine as their characters.
Michael Douglas is really really good in this movie. He is perfect as Hank Pym.
When older actors sign on for these big films, I worry that they will just
phone it in, but Douglas does not. He took it seriously and that comes across.
He became Hank Pym. Evangeline Lily is awesome as Hope. She plays a great
character who is skeptical of Scott and knows she could do the job just as
good. She is a strong, independent character and Lily does a great job
portraying the changes her character goes through throughout the film and I
cannot wait to see her become The Wasp. She will be great at that! Paul Rudd
steals the show though. This is his best performance in a movie in my opinion. He
really becomes Scott Lang. He is charming and funny like you expect, but he
also is believably heroic. He expresses his motivations and you really
understand his character. The side characters are also really memorable.
Anthony Mackie’s appearance is great. Anytime he is in a Marvel movie is a
great time. Fortson steals every scene she is in. She is adorable as Cassie.
But the funniest person in this film was Michael Pena. His Luis character was
hilarious. Every time he was onscreen I was laughing. His sequences where he explained
how he got a tip were hysterical. His delivery was awesome and I hope he keeps
popping up throughout the MCU.
That all
being said Marvel still has a problem. They have trouble creating good villains.
Darren Cross is the villain in this movie, but he is not that developed. His
motivation is the perceived slight from Hank. It’s hard to believe that a perceived
slight would cause a guy to want to build a superweapon, want to kill Hank,
unleash chaos on the world, and threaten to kill a little, innocent girl. This
film’s villain fits into Marvel’s tendency for cookie-cutter villains. They
need to give their villains more depth. Hopefully Thanos will be good but as of
now their only great villain is Loki. Cross is ok and is definitely better than
most of Marvel’s villains, but he is still nothing spectacular. They really
need to up their game.
Overall this
is a great movie. I absolutely loved it. It has great story elements, beautiful
special effects, and many great characters. All of that including the mediocre
villain makes this one of my favorite Marvel movies. It is one of my top 5
favorite films and one of my top 3 favorite films of this year. As for a rating, I will give this movie 4.75
out of 5. If the villain had been better I would have went higher, but it is
still a great movie. I can’t wait to see it again and am excited to see what
Marvel does next with Captain America Civil War. Well, that’s all for now.
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