Ant-Man Under The Lens!

I saw the Ant-Man last week; review below. But first here are some fun covers from across the many decades of the character's history which put him under the close scrutiny of a magnifying lens.

What follows is a spoiler-rich review so tread carefully beyond this point those who might still want to enjoy this very entertaining Marvel movie. 

What a riot Ant-Man was! Fun was the order of the day as this story of a gold-hearted thief getting a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his daughter and the world and himself unravels before our eager eyes. Paul Rudd who plays the lead character Scott Lang is full of charm and brings it in full force to a character who could have been in other hands full of indulgent self-loathing. We get a smidgeon of that, but mostly we get a glimpse of a guy with a Robin Hood ethos who seems to want to find his way forward in a world which wants to define him by the crims he hangs with. And what a charming gang of thieves these are, as Scott lands in a four-man apartment full of ex-cons who have distinct skills and specific charms, especially his former cellmate Luis (Michael Pena) who is hilarious in several sequences.

The movie does a pretty decent job of hashing about in the complex Ant-Man back story pile pulling out vintage elements from the past. We get Wasp, we get Yellowjacket, we get not one, but two Ant-Men, just like in the comic book. While Hank Pym here is an old guy, he does represent heroes of a different age (the 80's) and adds to the tapestry of Marvel's cinema reality. We get a mild Cold War vibe from his frank unwillingness to share his break though that allows the space between atoms to be collapsed making it possible to shrink to impossible size both living and non-living matter, causing him to leave his place at SHIELD back in the late 80's when Morgan Stark and Peggy Carter were still leaders in the organization, unknowing that HYDRA was in the room all the time. 

The movie doesn't really make sense all the time if you think about it too hard, but it keeps a brisk pace and so those questions of how everything is supposed to hang together get put aside as the action rolls out. I did feel a bit of sympathy for folks coming to the character cold as there is a ton of expository information in this one, lots of  details to decode, but having a long history with Ant-Man I was up for it.

Favorite moments came fast and quick but Yellowjacket in the bug zapper was a big one. Also anytime Luis told one of his stories was a tremendous pleasure to see unfold. Cassie Lang was a bit cloying at times but she's a little kid so I'll cut her slack. The contrast between the ant-sized battles and the relative lack of drama as seen from the full-size world often made for big laughs. And Falcon looked fantastic! 

It's a hoot and I can see bits of pieces of it which people can pick at. But overall it's a delightful few hours at the movies, and that's the ultimate goal of any film. 

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