WHEN Age of Ultron hit theaters two months ago, I felt tired of Marvel Studios' formula for their superhero movies. Enter the witty hero in the pursuit of justice, managing to find a way to beat the odds no matter what.
First off, for the first time in quite a while, we've got completely fresh faces in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a man who was just released from prison after some modern day Robin Hood-esque activities. We learn, however, that he's not just any sort of burglar.
Lang isn't just a crafty thief, but a smart one too. We learn that he's an engineer and uses his genius to find solutions to hard-to-crack security systems. I'm glad, however, that Lang doesn't take himself too seriously, and often provides comic relief in the film. If you feel like that sounds pretty close to Iron Man, well, you'd be mostly right, except for one important thing. Although Scott Lang is smart in his own right and is the current Ant-Man, the man most responsible for the creation and development of the hero and his powers is the original Ant-Man himself, Hank Pym, who is portrayed by Michael Douglas.
Pym is the original Ant-Man, who enlists Lang's help to stop Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from releasing his own Ant-Man-like technology out of fear that it might fall into the wrong hands.
The Pym-Lang pairing makes for an interesting dynamic, in my opinion. While Lang provides the heroics and wit, Pym brings the genius to the table. The way the two complement each other makes me see Ant-Man as more of a team of Pym and Lang, rather than just Lang as the one wearing the suit. Beside the fact that Pym served as a sort of mentor, he's pretty much also the only one in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) right now who knows how to create the Pym Particle, which is vital to Ant-Man. With this in mind, I feel like for most of the subsequent appearances of Ant-Man in the MCU, you'll be getting both Lang and Pym, never one without the other. Unless of course they try to find some way to kill either of them off in a sequel, but we'll leave that up to the screenwriters.
Speaking of screenwriting, I really felt that the estranged-father storyline between Pym and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) was great, however, it seemed to go by so quickly. It was a nice little subplot, but the pacing was too fast that it felt like I barely had time to absorb details or let the state of their relationship sink in. I'm estimating that their whole ruined relationship is established, explored and resolved in about 25 minutes. As a result, although the reconciliation was supposed to be a huge emotional burden lifted from their shoulders, the short time in which the subplot runs its course makes the resolution seems too much easier than it should have been.
The supporting cast in Ant-Man is superb as well, particularly Michael Peña who plays Luis. Luis' scenes are always a treat and he provides a hearty amount of laughs whenever he's on screen.
Another pleasant surprise was T.I. who played Dave, the group's getaway guy. It's not a very strong role, but I'm impressed how someone like T.I. was able to mellow out and convincingly play a two-bit criminal, which is a stark contrast to the rapper persona which he's most known for. It probably wasn't too hard to pull off but at least it shows that T.I. is capable of doing some decent acting.
I don't have too much to say about the main cast. They all put in good performances but no one really put in a great shift as their character.
I must say, however, that Yellowjacket seems poorly written. Sure, his suit is cool and everything but as a character he sorely lacks depth.
I'd also like to point out the Spider-Man reference that was made near the end of the film, where the reporter says that now we have "heroes that jump, heroes that swing, and heroes that climb walls." It's sort of easy to miss, but I also found it fun for the meta implications of the line.
Ant-Man score: 8.6/10