Review: ANT-MAN

ANT-MAN  (ACTION-COMEDY/SCI-FI) 
2 out of 4 stars 
Directed by Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Micheal Pena, Tip "T.I." Harris, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Martin Donovan, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.
117 minutes
Verdict: A disappointingly mediocre entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pervaded by cheap comedic beats while shying away from the most interesting aspects of its premise, ultimately resulting in the most forgettable and dull installment in the MCU yet.
YOU MAY ENJOY ANT-MAN IF YOU LIKED:
THOR: THE DARK WORLD  (2013)
IRON MAN 2  (2010)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON  (2015)
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS  (1989)
DAREDEVIL  (2003)

ANT-MAN comes with a lot of baggage. Originally announced at Marvel Studios to be directed by Edgar Wright, critically-acclaimed writer/director of SHAUN OF THE DEAD, THE WORLD'S END and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, it was an incredibly exciting prospect for the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" (MCU) that now includes the superhero series of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, with more on the near horizon.  Then, during late pre-production in May 2014, it was announced that Wright was leaving the project due to the extremely vague and typical citation of "creative differences", and the air of excitement seemed mostly let out of it.  Wright has maintained a screenwriting credit with his co-screenwriter Joe Cornish, in addition to an executive producer credit, and the action set-pieces (at least, most of them) have Wright's hand in them as they had to be plotted out before everything else, but the director's reins have been handed to Peyton Reed, whose credits include BRING IT ON, THE BREAK-UP and YES MAN.  ANT-MAN is emblematic of a particular problem at Marvel Studios, one that first became apparent in IRON MAN 2 and clashed with writer/director Joss Whedon's vision in AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON; the homogenizing of individual films to meet the needs of the larger story, rather than crafting the larger story around the individual films, and relying on the gimmicks of the system rather than the merits of the story and characters.

In ANT-MAN, comic actor Paul Rudd stars as Scott Lang, a burglar who's just been released from prison and now hopes to start anew by getting a legitimate job and becoming a consistent presence in his estranged daughter's life.  This proves more difficult than expected, and Lang returns to crime, stealing a suit that he discovers contains technology that shrinks the wearer down to miniscule size while enhancing his strength to a superhuman level.  The rightful owner and inventor of the suit, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), makes contact with Lang and with his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who resents Lang for the potential her father sees in him, they train him to be the superhero "Ant-Man", to best utilize the suit's powers and telepathically communicating with actual ants.  Pym's company, from which he's was ousted years ago, is now run by his old protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), and has now found a way to replicate the Ant-Man technology which Pym has fought to keep secret, and with any luck, Pym will have Lang ready in time to infiltrate the company building and steal the technology before it has a chance to fall into the wrong hands.
ANT-MAN relies more heavily on humor than any other Marvel movie to date, and unfortunately, it also has the lowest success rate in that respect.  With the exception of a few good laughs, the movie is filled with dull and cheap comedic beats (especially involving Pena's annoying sidekick character), and more unfortunately, a few gags with strong potential marred by broad execution.  Likewise, the action typically has more potential than is delivered, smartly written, but lacking the fine-tuning that would be preferable.

Rudd has proven time and again to be a solid supporting actor in comedies like ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY and THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, but he lacks the screen presence and magnetism to lead a film, leaving Douglas, whose character is the more interesting besides, to carry the brunt of the load.  Certainly, Douglas' character is the center of interest in these proceedings, attracting more conflict and possessing more complexity than the others, and where is character goes is more intriguing than even the central protagonist.  The lack of strong, interesting villains in the MCU has been well documented (always excepting Loki, although Red Skull, while lacking complexity, served CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER well), and Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, is another villain who is more a plot device than a character, and more unexpectedly, Stoll's mannerisms bring to mind Buster Bluth from Arrested Development.
Rather than a story built around its eponymous character, ANT-MAN is a safe, unremarkable story built around the MCU, laying the connections on thickly, but in a gimmicky sense rather than to advance the larger, multi-film plot in the manner that dragged down IRON MAN 2 and AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.
To be fair, for the average moviegoer, depending on how well they receive the film's humor, ANT-MAN is perfectly pleasant summer entertainment, nothing particularly impactful, but engaging enough in the moment.  In the broader scheme, it's harmless, but in the universe of Marvel films, it's arguably the most apparent symptom yet of the considerable creative flaws in the studio's increasing attempts to gentrify their individual films at the sakes of those films' individual souls.

Images via Marvel Studios