Ant-Man has spent a long time in gestation. It was actually one of the earliest superhero films announced in this current wave of comic book adaptations, with director Edgar Wright attached to the project. That deal fell apart, though Wright and his writing partner Joe Cornish are still credited in the screenplay. The film does suffer a bit from the specter of what could have been, but it is mostly a fine little movie on its own. While the film doesn’t really hit its emotional beats, it provides a breezy, mostly well-acted little piece of superhero action.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just been released from prison, where he served time for committing burglary. As an ex-con, he has trouble finding work, and his inability to pay child support is keeping him from seeing his daughter Cassie. Reclusive scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) offers him a chance at redemption, granting him the use of a suit that will allow him to shrink. Pym wants Lang to use this suit to pull a heist on his former protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who is on the verge of discovering the secrets behind size changing, and intends to sell the technology to the highest bidder.
What ultimately sets the film apart from other superhero blockbusters is its scale. Ant-Man shrinks, and the film follows suit. This isn’t exactly a story of heroes having to stop a world-destroying villain. This is a story about fathers and daughters, and mentors and protégés. The action follows suit. The film gets a lot of mileage out of the simple visual joke of big action hero moves translating into tiny events in the regular sized world.
But even with a story told on such a personal scale, it never really quite works out dramatically. It feels like a lot of the film’s emotional content is tacked on, and too much of it involves characters stating their trauma out loud. It’s not terrible by any means, especially with a cast that’s this good. But it certainly pales in comparison to the film’s comedic quotient. This is probably the funniest film in the current Marvel canon. It is the most comedically-inclined, at the very least. While the entire movie is pretty competently done, it really seems to come alive in its comedic set pieces.
A lot of the film’s appeal comes from the cast. Paul Rudd’s lends his general likability to the entire film, his amiable delivery making a lot of film’s nonsense palatable. Michael Douglas is working really hard as Hank Pym, finding the drama in lines that just seem silly on paper. Evangeline Lilly makes an underwritten role work, and Corey Stoll extracts the fun from a pretty underwhelming villain. But the film’s MVP is Michael Peña, who plays Scott’s ex-con friend Luis. He is center stage in some of the film’s best sequences, and the actor relishes the opportunity. Peña makes the entire film feel like a lark, making its logical inconsistencies easier to swallow.
Ant-Man is a fine little film. But if one is familiar with Edgar Wright’s work, one can’t help but imagine what he would have done with this same material. Because what’s missing now from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is any sort of distinct vision, or variations in look or style. But judging for what it is, the film is all right. It is fun and funny and just as likable as its lead star. There are bits and pieces that don’t quite work, but they shrink in the presence of this terrific cast, who all uniformly commit to the film’s absurdities.
My Rating:
