Ant-Man (2015)

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nAnt-Man (2015)

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nDirector: Peyton Reed

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nCast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, MichaelnPena

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nAnt-Man’s a superhero character that has always been underestimatednbecause you know, what’s his power? Getting real small? Wow. People think,nwhat, he talks to ants? That’s his power? Which takes me back to when GarrettnMorris (who by the way cameos in this film as a Taxi Driver) played Ant-Man in  the fourth season of Saturday Night Live. Innthat sketch, a bunch of superheroes are gathered in a party and Flash (playednby Dan Aykroyd) and Hulk (played by John Belushi) are giving Ant-Man a roughntime, making fun of his super powers. The Hulk looks at Ant-Mans ass and asks “wherenyou got your ants?” and The Flash is like “Hey Hulk, check this guy out, he hasnhuman strength!” And that was the 70’s! Today people feel the same, likenAnt-Man is not one of the big heroes. Ever since an Ant-Man movie wasnannounced, I myself thought it wouldn’t be a huge hit because when compared tonthe big superheroes like Thor or Iron Man, well, Ant-Man’s “small potatoes”.nAnd so I kept thinking, this is going to be the first Marvel Studios movie to flop;nI know I wasn’t alone in thinking this way. Most film critics and movies buffsnthought the same; our collective expectations for an Ant-Man movie were low allnaround. Plus, Ant-Man isn’t a a new character (he’s been around since the 60’s) but he’s not household name like Spider-man or Superman, thisnguy is really new to the masses. So it’s to be expected that the level of excitementnsurrounding the Ant-Man movie was nowhere near as high as other Marvel movies.nHell, I was already branding it a future flop! It goes without saying thatnMarvel Studios had a huge task in their hands to try and convince us that thisnmovie was just as valid and entertaining as previous Marvel films. So, was it?nIs Ant-Man one of the good ones? Is it a worthy addition to the already awesomenMarvel Studios cinematic roster?

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nMovies about miniaturization have been around for quite anwhile, here’s a couple of them: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), FantasticnVoyage (1966),  The Incredible ShrinkingnWoman (1981), Innerspace (1987) and Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) all of thesendeal with people who are shrunk to microscopic size. They all have one thing inncommon, the effects work involved building props and sets that made humans looknsmall and the creative use of foreground and background imagery; all done toncreate the illusion of a human that’s microscopic in size. Other films thatnplayed with these types of special effects were Darby O’Gill and the LittlenPeople (1959), The Gnome Mobile (1967) and The Borrowers (1997). Ant-Man hasnthe advantage of modern day computer effects which gives the movie an uppernhand that previous movies with this theme never had. In other words, theneffects work on this movie is top notch and surpasses anything that had evernbeen done in these types of movies before. Camera angles take us into the smallestnplaces imaginable. Ever been sucked into the inside of a vacuum cleaner? Well,nnow you’ll know what that feels like. You ever wanted to know what it feelsnlike to be inside of an anthill? Look no further, Ant-Man takes us there! Thisnis something I really enjoyed, the concept that we are seeing things we willnprobably never get to see. This is the films most innovative angle, itsnstrongest attribute. Ant-Man isn’t about gigantic black holes opening up in thenmiddle of New York City, nope, this one goes the opposite way, to the microverse,nthe idea of “worlds within worlds”.

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nAnt-Man takes a cue from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) innthe sense that it’s lighthearted, entertaining and fast paced. The dialog isnoften times funny as are the situations. The addition of Michael Pena to thencast was a good choice, he offers up some of the funniest moments in the movie.nAnt-Man also has heart and soul, because it’s all about a dad wanting to provenhis worth to his daughter. You see, this is the story of Scott Lang, a burglarnwho’s just gotten out of prison and now that he is finally out, he wants to dongood. He wants to be the good guy for this daughter; he wants to finally takenthe reins of fatherhood. But it isn’t easy when you’re an ex-con and not evennBaskin Robbins will give you a job. So of course, stealing shit is the onlynoption Scott has, or is it? Basically this is a story about Scott Lang’snredemption, which he gets a shot at thanks to Hank Pym, the original Ant-Mannwho wants to give Scott a second chance at life by passing the Ant-Man torchnover to him.  Will he prove to be anworthy successor to the Ant-Man legacy? Will he ever regain his daughtersnrespect?

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nSo it was the idea that this was “just” a movie about a guynwho gets really small and controls ants that made me think this movie was goingnto be so-so, yet what surprised me the most about Ant-Man is how far they tooknthe concept of miniaturization. They really do play a lot with the idea, theyneven went with the idea of enlarging things which was awesome, and it reallynpresented us with some unexpected concepts. For example, how far can you miniaturizena person? What happens when you reach a sub-atomic level? What happens when younget smaller than an atom and beyond? This took the film into surreal territory,nin fact, I felt like I was truly going into the unknown. In some ways itnreminded me of movies dealing with Black Holes, where the big mystery is whatnhappens after we actually go into the black hole. Disney’s own The Black Hole (1979)nplayed with traveling into the unknow. In that film, when they go into thenblack hole the film suddenly turns into a surreal, dreamlike nightmare! Ant-mannhas moments such as these, in fact, in the theater I was in, somebody said “that’snfucking weeeeiiiirrrd!” during said scenes. I felt pretty much the same way,nwhich was awesome; it’s not every day that a film can actually amaze you withnits concepts. So yeah, conceptually speaking, Ant-Man is a winner.

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nThe film has a fewnsurprises up its sleeves so keep your eyes peeled. I like how they introduce usnto the idea of Ant-Man becoming one of the Avengers because if we get down tonit, Ant-Man was actually in the very first original line up of the avengers,nway back in Avengers #1 (1963) so it makes perfect sense that they are sonobviously lining the character up for greatness on a future Avengers film.nActually, one of the after credits sequences (of which there are two) connects Ant-Manndirectly with Captain American: Civil War (2016). I love how they are mixingnall these characters and films; it really does feel as if they are part of onencohesive universe. But I see what Disney/Marvel is doing here. They want tonmake a really kick ass first movie (which in my opinion they’ve pulled off) sonyou’ll have no problem in accepting Ant-Man as a future member of The Avengers.nPaul Rudd did a fantastic job as Ant-Man, he is the perfect fit for thencharacter, he plays the everyman to perfection. Michael Douglas and Paul Ruddnhave great chemistry together. Kudos to Michael Douglas for finally playingnlikable characters, for a while, all Douglas ever played was assholes. Here henplays the very likable Dr. Hank Pym. Evangeline Lilly rounds things up rathernnicely, I have a feeling we will be seeing a whole lot more of her in futurenfilms. I’m looking forward to seeing this new chapter of the Marvel CinematicnUniverse develop further, but for now, don’t underestimate Ant-Man, it’s a kicknass, fun ride every step of the way.

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