Movie Review: “Ant-Man”

Ant-manFor the second straight year, Marvel’s late-summer entry is a film, based on a little-known comic book property, that’s a whole lot of fun. “Ant-Man” isn’t quite the joy that “Guardians of the Galaxy” was, but it’s still an inventive, very enjoyable action film. Casting Paul Rudd as a superhero, Michael Douglas as his mentor and Corey Stoll as the villain- were all masterstrokes, whichever director was responsible.

(The usual disclaimer- I’ve never read any comic books and therefore know nothing about the book histories of these characters besides what my friends and my kids tell me- and my kids have never heard of Ant-Man.)

“Ant-Man,” of course, is exactly what it sounds like: A superhero who turns into an ant. Or rather, an ant-sized creature with the ability to control actual ants- when Rudd puts on the Ant-Man suit, he shrinks to the size of an ant, and can go back to human size at will.  This creates a lot of opportunities for creative setpieces, whether it’s a fight on top of a child’s Thomas the Tank Engine train set or Rudd’s attempts to jump through a keyhole.

Rudd stars in the film as Scott Lang, an ex-con thief looking to reconnect with his young daughter. During a heist, he stumbles into the Ant-Man suit, which was created by Hank Pym (Douglas), another in the Marvel universe’s seemingly endless series of rich, brilliant scientists. He’s got a daughter of his own (Evangeline Lilly), who currently works for his evil rival (Stoll.)

Rather than the most recent “Avengers” film, which had to service seemingly dozens of characters and make connections with Marvel pictures of the past and future, Ant-Man is much leaner- it’s a relatively straightforward story that leads up to a pretty thrilling third-act heist. Not that there’s no connection to the Avengers universe- both facilities and people from the earlier films do show up.

Edgar Wright was famously supposed to direct “Ant-Man,” before he dropped out and replaced by the less-highly-regarded Peyton Reed. Reed, who made “Bring it On” but has had a more checkered career since, including a seven-year layoff since his last film, the Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man.” I don’t know the film Wright would have made or how different it would have been, but Reed didn’t do a bad job.

If you like the Marvel universe, you’ll probably enjoy “Ant-Man.” But in a way that “Avengers: Age of Ultron” didn’t, this one stands on its own as a quality action film.

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