A Huge Film About A Tiny Hero

Lake Charles, LA

I know that Marvel’s Ant-Man has been out for a few weeks now.  I also know that I’m late to the game on this film.  I fully intended to see it on its opening weekend, but LIFE happened and I just never could seem to get my butt in a chair at the theater.  After seeing the film, though, I’m both happy and sad that I waited so long to see it.

Why am I both happy and sad?  Well, I’m happy because the theater wasn’t jam-packed full of people when I finally got to see the film.  This meant that the odds of running into an idiot with a loud mouth or a screaming child with a parent who just won’t leave the theater were pretty low.  I really, really, REALLY dislike constant interruptions during films, and for this reason I will often wait a week or two before checking out some films.

I was sad because the film was no longer available in 3D in my local theater.  Since Marvel has been releasing films in 3D, I’ve only missed seeing them as such once before watching Ant-Man, and that was Thor, because I didn’t think it would be worth the extra bucks to see in 3D.  I was wrong then and I wish that I had the chance to watch Ant-Man in 3D as well.  The visuals were awesome, particularly the scenes involve ant action.

SPOILER FREE REVIEW AHEAD!!!  KEEP ON READING!!!

Ant-Man was extremely well-paced, finding the perfect balance between humor, action, and drama.  It follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a man recently released from prison who is looking to start fresh, support his daughter, and change his ways.  As is often the case for ex-cons, though, getting and finding a job is tough, so he ends up in a situation where his hand is forced and he has to take on a “job” that’s a sure thing.

That sure thing, though, was anything but.

Lang finds himself under the tutelage of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), a scientist who is just as sharp (if not sharper) than BOTH of the Stark men involved with S.H.I.E.L.D.  Lang agrees to help Pym put a stop to his former protege, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), who has plans that involve tech based on Pym’s own research.  Without revealing too much, Cross’ plans involve selling his tech to a certain secret organization that has posed a threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for some time now and shows no signs of slowing down.

In order to stop Cross, Lang, Pym, and Pym’s daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), put a huge scheme into play that involves three “associates” of Lang who have experience in illegal affairs.  This trio, Luis (Michael Pena), Dave (Tip Harris), and Kurt (David Dastmalchian), provides a lot of the humor in this film, with Pena stealing just about every scene that he’s in.

In fact, I would say that of all of the Marvel flicks that have been released so far, Ant-Man‘s supporting cast is the strongest one yet.  From the aforementioned supporting cast to actors such as Judy Greer, Wood Harris, Bobby Cannavale, Martin Donovan, and a few surprises from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film is loaded with brilliant acting.

The primary villain in this film (and I promise that this isn’t a spoiler since this guy is in the trailer) is Yellowjacket (Stoll), and while his actual screen time as Yellowjacket is brief, Stoll excels as Darren Cross on the screen.  Cross danced on that fine line between being a good guy that’s broken emotionally/mentally and being a bad guy who just wants to have his own piece of the pie (albeit a pretty big piece).

The action scenes were excellent.  The powers of the heroes and villains in this film could have looked ludicrous and silly as all get out on the screen, but production nailed each and every scene involving Ant-Man and Yellowjacket.  Sure, some of the scenes were played for gags, but they didn’t take away from the plot or break the flow of the film in any way.

In short, I LOVED Ant-Man.  Action, humor, drama, perfect direction, excellent music, and flawless editing made this easily one of my top five Marvel films.  I highly recommend it and if you haven’t seen it yet, GO SEE IT!!!!!  You will not regret watching this excellent film!

As always, thanks for reading.  I’ll be posting about the second episode of Fear The Walking Dead in a few days.