Following the surprise success of Guardians of the Galaxy, I guess Marvel decided to go with a new super hero to complete Phase II of their complex and engaging storyline. Of all of the mainstream and secondary characters to be classified as Avengers, Ant Man was most certainly the one I knew little about. I figured he could shrink his suit down to the size of an ant, but I didn't know much else. In fact, this was a movie I waited until it was out on Blu Ray to see. I opted not to see this film in theaters and instead pumped myself up to see The Force Awakens. So, when I saw Ant-Man finally came out on Blu Ray, I took a look at it. And I got a pretty standard Marvel film on the level of a Captain America: The First Avenger or an Iron Man 2. Nothing incredibly special, but nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, had I never seen Deadpool, it would probably be one of the funnier of the comic book movies I've seen in a long time (and I mean intentionally funny). Plot: Small time thief Scott Lang is freed from prison after being caught stealing and tries to make amends to his divorced wife and estranged daughter. But the wife and her new fiance rebuke him and demand his unpaid child support for their daughter. With little choice, Lang joins forces with his old cellmate in one last heist to get the money to pay for his child support (his criminal record prevents him from holding a job), in which he steals what he thought was a motorcycle suit. But instead, he finds that the suit shrinks him down to the size of an ant. Terrified, he tries to return the suit to it's rightful owner, but is arrested and thrown in jail. However, the owner of the suit happens to be a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. named Hank Pym, who decides to recruit Lang in a plan to steal similar suit from his rival, who intends to smuggle the designs off to Hydra.
What's Bad?: The only thing I can say about this film that is truly mediocre or bad is the fact that Ant-Man does not cover any new ground in terms of the MCU. In fact, if you include the snarky love interest, the incredible yet unpredictable battle suit, and the villain who intends to make a better version of the respective suit, this film can technically be a rehash of Iron Man. But whereas that film had multiple personalities to bounce off of, this film only really has one personality.
What's Good?: Paul Rudd has always been one of those actors I thought was too good to not be selected to be in one of these franchise series or universes. Rudd is mostly good in this for his likable personality and his comedic banter with Evangeline Lilly (who plays Hank Pym's daughter Janet). And while he lacks the volatility of Robert Downey Jr., he is certainly capable of keeping pace with his fellow leading actors in the MCU and I do look forward to seeing him in his next film, or if he will be in the next Avengers film.
I also really enjoyed some of the action scenes in the film. The amount of depth they manage to give battlefields as small as a train set is really extraordinary and reminds me a lot of the kind of depth they gave the scenery of a film like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Overall: I really didn't have much to say about Ant-Man aside from the fact that it is a perfectly adequate comic book movie. It didn't really push any boundaries and it didn't exactly piss me off much, if at all. I wouldn't exactly go out of my way to watch the film again, but I cannot exactly say I would avoid this film as I would Iron Man 3. It's a perfectly "okay" film.
Final Grade: 83 or B
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