Ant-Man

When it was announced last summer that Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) would be directing the Ant-Man movie I could not have been more excited. This was Marvel’s chance to do something extremely great and unique just like Guardians of the Galaxy. Months later Wright dropped out and Marvels hunt for a new director began. About two directors later they landed the current director, Peyton Reed (Yes Man, Bring it on). At this point I had my doubts about the Ant-Man project with so many people dropping out. Walking into the theater for a Thursday night premier my expectations were somewhat low but of course it is still a Marvel Studios movie and so  I did not know what to expect. What we get from Ant-Man is something reminiscent of Iron man (2008) and Spider-man (2002). Much of Ant-Man brought me back to the somewhat grounded, personable feel of the solo superhero movie. We get to go through the trials with our hero, in this case Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), as he learns to fight and tinkers with his suit. What makes Ant-Man great is that we get a solo super but in a establish Marvel Cinematic Universe. We hear of the Avengers and their tales seamlessly woven into the Ant-Man dialogue (that’s as far as I’ll go with that). This is one of the things that makes the film so great. Seeing a brand new hero in this bigger world is really exciting too see.  

Of course like every hero , along the way he stumbles but not completely alone. Ant-Man is mainly a heist flick and like any heist you have your team. Scott Langs main crew consists of Luis (Michael Peña), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (T.I.). Lang is eventually aided by the first Ant-Man, Hank Pyn (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyn (Evangeline Lilly). The chemistry of the team is made entertaining by humor. Peña’s character Luis stole the show every scene he was in. I feel like Luis was created by the original director  Edgar Wright as his scenes feel like they’re straight out of one of Wrights films. Ant-Man himself, Paul Rudd, was a extremely smart casting decision. Rudd is able to pull off a serious hero character while still giving the performance we expect from him which is an upbeat humorous one.