Ant-Man
I had a very strong initial reaction to Avengers: Age of Ultron, but I think Ant-Man might be the better of Marvel’s two theatrical releases this year. A lot of people felt as though this would be a difficult property to sell, but the movie itself does an amazing job demonstrating how dangerous the power of shrinking actually is. On top of that, it’s actually very thematically different from almost all of the rest of the MCU.
Most of the heroes of the MCU are flawed, but essentially heroic. Scott Lang is very much a criminal, a very morally strong criminal, but a criminal nonetheless. His entire mission, the basis for him being picked for the suit in the first place, is based on him being a thief. He has to steal something for his new employer. He is definitely put into a corner, where he has to repeat criminal activity (which is a decent commentary about the revolving door that is the prison industrial complex), so it’s more acceptable. He seems sweeter, but he definitely maintains all of his old criminal acquaintances. He is a complex man with a very strong background and character conflicts through the roof. Which means, he is a great character!
When I heard T.I. was in the movie, I was certain he was going to do a terrible job, but he was pretty funny. He, Michael Peña and David Dastmalchian round out the aforementioned criminal acquaintances and they make a pretty delightful team. Peña in particular stands out as comic relief, making himself essential to any inevitable sequel(s). Evangeline Lily and Michael Douglas round out the good guys with solid performances as Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne (A character from A-Next). It was a very clever way to put two generations of Ant-Man in the same movie and establish a larger history within the already huge MCU.
Side Note: Did anyone else recognize the similarities between the Wasp’s death and Bucky’s original death from the comics? Since no one else has mentioned it, I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence or an homage. It was pretty awesome though.
Anyway, Darren Cross as Yellow Jacket (Corey Stoll) was a decent villain. He was very, VERY crazy and it was pretty clear that a mix of murdered ants and luck are the only reason he couldn’t win. He was largely alone. He was a very interesting choice of villain though, considering both Ant-Men have villains that didn’t basically have to be created for film. It would be nice to see a Marvel villain that’s not a mirror of the hero though. It’s starting to wear a little thin to be honest. However, this was a very good ending to Phase 2. Let’s hope Phase 3 changes things a bit though.
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Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
