Ant-Man

Late last night (early this morning?) I saw the movie Ant-Man.  It has been a rough week and I just wanted to do something to take my mind off things but, honestly, I really liked the movie, much more than I thought I would.  To be sure, having ant-like powers sounds like a silly premise for a superhero movie but I thought it was hilarious and I really enjoyed all of the miniaturized effects.  In 1989 Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original ant-man, resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. because he doesn't want them to unleash the power to shrink organic material on the world (and he is mourning the death of his wife from this technology which he created).  In present day, Pym learns that his former protege and current CEO of Pym Technologies, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), is on the verge of replicating his formula and intends to sell it to Hydra.  He enlists the help of his estranged daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who still works at Pym Technologies, to spy on Cross but he doesn't want her to wear the ant-man suit because he doesn't want to lose her like he lost her mother.  To that end, he recruits Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), who has recently been released from San Quentin for grand larceny and is trying to get his life back together despite the attempts of his former cell-mate Luis (Michael Pena) to get him to join his gang.  Wanting to be a hero to his daughter, Lang learns to use the suit and harness the power of various ants.  He eventually recruits Luis' gang (the aforementioned Pena, rapper T.I., and David Dastmalchian) to help infiltrate Pym Technologies and battle Cross, who has created his own suit called the Yellowjacket.  Instead of epic battle scenes involving the destruction of cities like other Avenger movies, these battle scenes are in miniature amidst giant items, such as life savers, cell phones, and a Thomas the Train toy.  What saves this movie from being a formulaic origin story are the scenes with Luis' gang.  Rudd, while not as endearingly snarky as Robert Downey, Jr., is a master of the funny one-liner and Pena nearly steals the show with his over-the-top portrayal of Luis.  I was laughing out loud and so was everyone in my screening.  I also really enjoyed the scenes where Lang puts the suit on for the first time and falls into a bathtub full of water and then through the floor boards to the apartment below to land on a turntable.  I'm sure the critics are going to rip this movie to shreds but I enjoyed it and it did exactly what every superhero movie should do: it provided a necessary diversion!

Note:  There is a mid-credits scene where Pym shows Hope the Wasp suit worn by her mother and there is a post-credits scene setting up the next Captain America movie so stay put!