Marvel May - Ant-Man (2015)

          Hey guys, Chuck here. For our next review of Marvel May, we're taking a look at a movie that was supposed to be a Phase One MCU movie, but got pushed back to the point where the original director left the project, and the film got reworked into the film we know it as today. Here we go: Ant-Man.

          The movie opens with a scene at the Triskelion, where scientist Hank Pym, furious with S.H.I.E.L.D. leadership, specifically Howard Stark, at an attempt at recreating Hank's Pym Particle formula. The Pym Particle is a serum that allows one to alter their molecular density, to shrink to tiny sizes or grow to enormous sizes. Further enraged by the mention of his missing wife, Janet, Hank leaves S.H.I.E.L.D. and vows that no one will ever get to touch the formula for the Pym Particle so long as Hank is alive. Although Mitchell Carlson, one of the heads of S.H.I.E.L.D. is wary of letting Hank go, both Peggy Carter and Howard Stark are certain that he won't be a security risk. 

       Cut to years later, and former VistaCorp employee Scott Lang is getting released from prison, and is struggling for work, as well as proving to his ex-wife Maggie that he can be there for his daughter, Cassie. Both Maggie and Cassie, meanwhile, are living with Maggie's new fiance Paxton of the San Francisco Police Department. Meanwhile, Scott's former cellmate, Luis, brings him in, along with computer expert Kurt and getaway driver Dave, on a job breaking into the vault in the basement of an older guy's house. 

         Meanwhile, Hank heads back to Pym Technologies, where he learns that his protege Darren Cross has successfully recreated the Pym Particle, and has created a prototype shrinking suit called the Yellowjacket. Hank, along with his daughter Hope, now struggle to prevent Darren from making his project operational. Meanwhile, Scott and co. break into the house, where he finds the vault, but no cash or goods inside. Instead, Scott finds a jumpsuit and helmet, and packs both up quickly and gets out of the house. The next day, he tries the suit on, and discovers it has the ability to make him shrink to the size of an ant. After trying it out, Scott decides to return the suit, and is arrested by the SFPD. After a while in interrogation with Paxton, Scott meets Hank, who reveals that he was testing Scott, and Scott passed the test. Later on, is given the suit back, and is told to put it on and make his way out, and fly on the back of a carpenter ant. 

          Scott wakes up the next morning and meets Hank and Hope properly. Hank wants Scott to use the suit, become Ant-Man, and steal the Yellowjacket suit before Darren can use it. Scott then spends the next several days training to use the suit, control the ants, and fight. During this time, Hank reveals to Hope that her mother, Janet, joined him on his Ant-Man missions with her own suit as the Wasp, and disappeared saving the world by going subatomic and disappearing into the Quantum Realm. Scott is then sent to what Hank believes to be an old Stark Industries warehouse in upstate New York, but upon arrival, Scott realizes that it's actually the current Avengers headquarters. While there, Scott meets and fights Sam Wilson aka The Falcon, and finally manages to retrieve the prototype that Hank was after. 

        Unfortunately, Darren's Yellowjacket project is ready, which gives Hank, Scott, and Hope less time to prepare. However, Scott suggests that they bring in more guys, and much to Hank's chagrin, Kurt, Luis, and Dave are brought in. With Hank, Hope, and Luis on the inside, Scott enters through the water main, causes a surge, and shuts off power to the lasers protecting the Yellowjacket, but too late, as Darren gets to it first. What follows is pretty complex and ridiculous, but stay with me. So, Hank and Hope get Scott out of the space that he's now trapped in, destroy the Pym Technologies building, and Scott fights Darren, who is now wearing the Yellowjacket suit. After a fight results in Darren getting zapped by a bug zapper, which kills him and brings him back to life, Scott is taken into custody by Paxton, who gets a call from Maggie about Darren taking Cassie hostage, promoting Paxton to hurry to the house, where Scott and Darren continue their fight. Scott realizes that he has to shrink between the molecules to destroy the Yellowjacket suit, goes subatomic, defeats Darren, and enters the Quantum Realm. However, upon hearing Cassie's voice calling out to him, Scott uses a disk that Hank gave him as a weapon to fix his regulator and return to normal size. 

         Everything back to being okay now, Scott meets with Hank, who now wonders if Janet might still be alive in the Quantum Realm. Hank then catches Scott and Hope making out, because that's a thing in the movie now. Scott goes to have dinner with Maggie, Paxton, and Cassie, and Paxton tells Scott that everything is fine, and that when asked about the night he got out of the police station, he was correctly processed. Later, Luis goes on a long winded means of telling Scott that Sam Wilson is looking for him. In a mid-credits scene, Hank shows Hope a prototype of the Wasp suit that was unfinished, and suggests that the two of them finish it, as he realizes that it was meant for her. In a post-credits scene, Sam meets with Steve Rogers, and the two discuss what to do next when it comes to Bucky Barnes, who is in the room with them, with his metal arm in a vise. 

          Okay, so this movie went through quite a rough patch to even happen. First, it was to be directed by Edgar Wright, who pushed back production multiple times due to work on films of his like Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and The World's End. Because of that, the film had to be reworked to fit into the MCU timeline at the point that the franchise was at. This led Edgar Wright to leave the project, and after an extensive search, Peyton Reed, whose filmography included films like Yes Man, Bring It On, and a made-for-television version of The Love Bug starring Bruce Campbell, was selected to direct Ant-Man. 

       For what it is, Ant-Man is a lot smaller, no pun intended, than most Marvel movies up to this point, especially coming off of Age of Ultron. Focusing on a new hero, especially one that doesn't require a lot of extensive action scenes and visual effects, is quite a step down from the massive fair we had for the previous three Marvel movies. But, smaller doesn't imply worse or weaker. As a matter of fact, the movie is really good. 

         Easily the best part of the movie is lead actor Paul Rudd. Here's a guy that redeemed his career with this movie, to the point where he's gone from supporting funny man to leading man of a major series. His turn as Scott Lang is easily my favorite role of his, and I look forward to seeing him in future Marvel movies. Evangeline Lily, who is probably best known for her roles in The Hobbit trilogy and the TV show Lost, also shines in this movie as Hope Van Dyne. Not only that, but I actually buy her chemistry with Paul Rudd as Scott to the point of actually wanting to see Scott and Hope get together. 

       The rest of the cast, including Michael Pena as Luis, T.I. Harris as Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, and Judy Greer as Maggie, were great as well. The only one that didn't stand out, which is more a knock on Marvel villains up to this point, was Corey Stoll as Darren Cross. His role was basically about the same as Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger in Iron Man. But the best actor in this movie is easily Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. Michael Douglas pretty much nailed this role, and was definitely the perfect choice for the role of Hank. 

        Overall, this was a fun movie with great humor. In light of nods to the Avengers feeling forced at times, this is a great entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'm giving Ant-Man a rating of 4.5/5. This is Chuck signing off. Join me later on today as Marvel May continues with the fracturing of the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War.