Movie Review -- Ant-Man

Today we have the latest Marvel movie, Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd. Here we go.

The plot centers around ex-con Scott Lang (Rudd) as he gets released from prison after having served time for stealing millions of dollars from his former employers. Lang finds few options for employment, however, and with child support payments to make, he's getting desperate.

Meanwhile, former scientist and secret agent Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is alarmed when his former protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) announces he has successfully replicated Pym's secret formula for shrinking objects and people. Cross wants to militarize it and has even created a heavily-armed suit called Yellow Jacket to sell to the highest bidder. Pym, determined to keep his technology from falling into the wrong hands, seeks help in stopping Cross.

Oblivious to all this, Lang decides to go in for one last score with his old friend Luis (Michael Pena). Their goal is to rob the safe from the basement of some anonymous man. When Lang gets into the safe, however, all he finds is a mysterious suit. He tries it on and is startled to find he shrinks to the size of an insect. Turns out, the house he robbed is Pym's. Pym, seeing Lang's potential, recruits him to steal the Yellow Jacket. But it won't be easy; Cross has tight security guarding his suit. So, to even the odds, Pym's daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) trains Lang in martial arts and how to control ants. With both human and insect friends by his side, Lang sets out to stop Cross, but what surprises does the nefarious Yellow Jacket have in store?

I found this movie to be rather average. It has slick visuals and cool cameos from other Marvel characters, but just about everything else is so-so. For one thing, the characters just aren't that interesting. Lang is OK, but his felonious friends are about as exciting as a broken VCR. Luis, in particular, is just a lame Latino stereotype. And Cross is as shallow as a kiddie pool.

The action, for its part, does liven things up a bit by showcasing battles in an over-sized world. Seeing the characters battle amidst giant play sets was fun, albeit not enough to make me love this film. The movie tries to spice things up even further with a romantic subplot you can see coming a mile away, but only partly succeeds.

I will, however, say there are some cool scenes after the credits which have me interested in future Ant-Man adventures.

Bottom line: Ant-Man is merely all right.