Marvel’s Ant-Man Movie Review

Marvel’s Ant-Man Movie Review: A Superhero Action Adventure

For most people the question that pops into their minds when the title Ant-Man comes around is, who in the world is he? By the name and trailers we learn he is a shrinking superhero that can command ants to do his will. Still in a world of big names like Captain America, Thor, Iron-Man and Hulk the name Ant-Man seems puny silly and irrelevant. To make matters worse this movie comes following the bigger than life Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Marvel Universe goes from psycho robots with city dropping plots to end humanity to a guy who can shrink and have a big action scene in a Thomas the Train play set. So the question is, how does a movie about a small guy can fend against a whole team of larger than life Avengers? The answer is simple, by going the other way. This movie gives us a grounded character, not some billionaire, god, monster or super soldier. This is the story of an average guy who becomes a superhero. Because of this Ant-Man may very well be the most relateable character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date.

ANT-MAN: Movie Trailer

The movie begins with the original Ant-Man Henry Pym refusing to sell his shrinking technology to S.H.I.E.L.D. He fears the dangers that an army of Ant-Men could unleash. Many years later now Pym’s protégé and head of Pym Technologies, Darren Cross has developed the same technology and is aiming to sell it to Hydra (the bad guys). In order to prevent this, an older Hank Pym needs a new Ant-Man to go inside his old company and steal the technology before it is too late. Enter Scott Lang, a burglar who has just finish his jail sentence for cracking one of the tightest security systems. His aim in life is to be a better man and be a good father to his daughter Cassie. Something anyone can relate to. Because of his criminal record finding a job becomes difficult. Lucky for him, Pym has been keeping an eye on him. Eventually he becomes the Ant-Man and with the help of the Pym’s, a few street guys and an army of ants they prepare the biggest heist of the Marvel Universe.

I really enjoyed how this movie relates to the rest of the Marvel Universe. It has ties to S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers. There is even a fight scene between him and one of the Avengers and the first mention of Spider-Man. Even though this is a standalone film you can see how it fits into the larger scheme of the Marvel Universe. It clearly bridges Age of Ultron and the upcoming Captain America Civil War. To me this is very cool. Ant-Man is not the big fighting mighty guy. He is more of a stealth type of character. I loved all his heist type scenes and I believed they are the forte of the movie. It is also a different pace from what we are used to seeing in Marvel movies.

The characters are all well played and balanced. We have the veteran Michael Douglas as Henry Pym bringing his scenic presence, Paul Rudd with his comic preciseness and Evangeline Lilly with her dramatic intensity among others. Michael Pena is awesome. He is definitely the scene stealer of the movie. The funniest scenes of the movie are when his character begins to relate the stories of how thing came to be.

It is a lighter movie than what we are used to expect from summer blockbusters, but that is what makes it awesome.

Disclosure: This review was written by Mr. W. Fraticelli for Miami Mommy Savings. Complimentary pre-screening invitation was provided to facilitate this movie review. No compensation was received.

**Mr. W. Fraticelli **

Miami Mommy Savings movie reviewer: Mr. W. Fraticelli is a father of three, 2 boys and one beautiful baby girl! He loves music, movies and god. He was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Miami to pursue his music passion.