MCU Sunday #12: Ant-Man

 

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the twelfth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

 

 

Ant-Man could have hit the theaters many many years before the Marvel Studios started the MCU cycles, believe it or not. Way back in the 80's, Stan Lee tried to get some interest going in another Marvel character coming to the big screen. But since Walt disney was in the process of making Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the idea was put into hibernation because no one was really interested in trying to compete with the House of Mouse in any idea that might bomb at the box office against a Disney picture.

Obviously the Marvel Studios didn't have many worries about competing with Disney by the time it came time to produce the next installment of the Marvel superheroes.  After all, after 11 previous dynamic movies, the name of marvel had enough prestige that even if Disney had did a remake and had, say, Johnny Depp or Mark Walburg as the scientist futzing around in the lab, Marvel would STILL have a hit on their hands.

Since Ant-Man, as a character, had been one of the founding members of the comic book version of The Avengers it's somewhat surprising that it took so long to add him to the roster of the film version of the superhero clan. And by the time he was added, it was actually the second iteration of the character that got to appear.  As made a part of the film, the original Ant-Man, Dr. Pym, had long since retired from his adventures, so the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang became the focus of the film and his background as a thief before becoming Ant-Man is the origin which would go forward.

 

 

 

Ant-Man  (2015):

Finally an opening that is fairly straightforward...

In 1989, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is one pissed off scientist.  He has been working on a technology that would reduce a man to the size of an ant, that has been commandeered by his bosses at SHIELD.  He thinks it ought to be his alone to decide, but as bosses usually go, SHIELD says that since he is an employee, his work is automatically owned by SHIELD. They want to use it for its military capabilities, which, as we all know, scientists, at least in the Marvel universe, are all pacifists. So Pym quits. (Or retires, you decide.)

(And by the way, kudos to the movie's production company on this scene.  Michael Douglas looks almost exactly like he did in Wall Street, which WAS actually a late 80's film. Of course, Pym and Gordon Gekko are not the same character, but he looks like him in this scene.)

Left: Hank Pym. Right: Gordon Gekko

 

Flash forward to the present.  Small time burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is released from San Quentin prison after serving his term. (I always thought that of San Quentin as a maximum security prison for hard case criminals, so I didn't quite get that a small time criminal like Scott would be there, but then, hey,  I don't know everything...) 

 

Side note:  I love the lead-in music after the Marvel logo opening, but I have to say I don't quite understand the choice.  They play a piece by a Latin jazz orchestra (led by Camillo Azuquita), but Scott Lang is not Latino.  Sure his best friend is...  maybe that's why.

So Scott connects up with his friend, Luis (Michael Pena), who tries to convince him to get back into his old life.  He has what he claims is a sure deal.  Ripping off a rich guy, which is Scott's forte.  But Scott wants nothing to do with it.  He plans to go straight. For good.

 

In the meantime, Pym returns to the company he founded.  His daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) has been working closely with Pym's successor in the company, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), to reinvigorate what Pym originally tried to keep secret; in essence, the Yellowjacket technology.  And the promotional video leaves nothing unquestioned as for what the technology is going to be used.  (Military, hell yes! Spy on enemies, why not! Etc.)

 

Meanwhile, Scott, who has had some bad luck with finding a job, being a former criminal, ends up going along with Luis and robbing the rich guy. Along with help from two of Luis' friends, Dave (Tip Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). He ends up having to do some serious MacGuyver stuff to get the job done, but he successfully raids the old guy's safe.  But the only thing in the safe is a "motorcycle suit".  Which of course, Scott steals.  Under the watchful eye of Pym who has apparently been behind the whole thing.

 

He tries on the suit and discovers the tech that the suit does, shrinking him to the size of an ant.... Tada Ant-Man.  And through the miracle of modern science he is now going to find out what he can do, with the help of Pym himself, communicating to him through the helmet.  

Yeah, it turns out that Pym engineered the whole thing in the first place, right down to influencing the stealing of the suit in the first place. Scott gets arrested while trying to return the suit, and while in jail has a meeting with his "lawyer" who turns out to be Pym himself who reveals the whole setup.

Pym's goal is to use Scott (and the Ant-man tech) to break into his old company and steal and destroy the Yellowjacket tech that Cross created.  Why? Because Pym, unlike many of his fellow compatriots at his old company, thinks that advanced weaponry and advanced capabilities at spying on enemies is a "bad idea". And even though his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) thinks she should be the hero in this endeavor, Pym is set on Scott.

 

 

Which means he has to train Scott, who is smart on some levels, but ignorant on the ideas behind the suit tech, how to operate it in superhero fashion.  And also on what not to do  You know, like modify the suit...  (Note: There are some intriguing foreshadowing parts in these scenes so pay attention if you plan on following this blog to it's conclusion...)

Also he has to learn how to work with his allies, members of the ant world.  He has to learn how to communicate with various subspecies, each with their own special abilities that can help him.

And eventually Pym breaks down and tells his daughter what REALLY killed her mother.  Her mother, it turns out, worked side by side with Pym, he being the original Ant-man and her being another superhero known as the wasp (using the same shrinking tech.) They both tried to stop an ICBM launched by renegade Russians, and she, using the suit for the dangerous portion of its abilities that Pym warned Scott about screwing with, went subatomic in order to stop the bomb. And never came back.

So the plans that Pym has are a bit complicated and requires a bit of help.  Against Pym's objections, Scott incorporates his three buddies, Luis, Dave and  Kurt. Dave being the getawat car drive, Kurt being a bird in the air, so to speak, scoping it out from the sky.  And Luis? He's a fake security guard, the mole on the inside.  (You know, Luis is a great character, but sometimes I wonder how he is EVER successful as a criminal... the guy is just a bit too off kilter.  But then so is every other comic relief character in film, so...)

So Scott and his ant allies invade.  But he doesn't count on some serious issues that await him.  Namely, Cross, whose intentions are NOT to help the government (big surprise) but to sell his tech to Hydra (Geez! Don't they ever get dismantled?  OH, wait, that old chop off one head and two grow in its place" thing...)

With Pym and Hope, and eventually, Scott captured things look a little bleak.  But now we get to the real battle (which is what we have been waiting for).  Cross, using his Yellowjacket tech, becomes Yellowjacket and has a battle with Ant-man and his ant army.

 

And a tank.  (Don't ask, just watch...)

The CGI for this movie surpasses anything we have seen so far, in my opinion.  The rapid transition between the full size characters and their miniature versions works without looking too cheesy.   And the final battle is well worth the wait.

Admittedly, most of the build-up becomes a bit slow.  And Rudd is not the most believable in his transition from two-bit burglar into a hero. (Kinda of like the somewhat difficult believability of Tony Stark transitioning from self-obsessed ego trip to... well, maybe that's not a good comparison...)

Where is Stan Lee? Right before the credits roll, Luis gets with Scott to try to tell him about another potential caper.  Yet another friend met some girl, a reporter, in a bar.  The reporter mentions to the friend that a guy working for The Avengers is looking for Ant-man. Stan is the bartender who agrees with the friend that the reporter is very attractive. 

And the Credits Roll: In mid credits, Pym shows Hope the prototype for an advanced version of the Wasp suit and tells her, that he and his wife had been working on it and he now realizes that the had been working on it for Hope. He tells her maybe it's time to complete the work on it. And post credits we find Captain America and the Falcon conferring on what to do about Bucky (The Winter Soldier).  They decide they really can't talk with Tony (Iron Man) but Falcon tells Cap that maybe there's another guy that can help...

The highlights of the movie are in the co-stars.  Michael Douglas is a star as Pym, and Pena's comic relief as Luis is well worth it, but overall, I have to say without that dynamic battle at the end, I probably could have skipped the origin story here.

But we are getting some more details here for the story line, like the introduction of a future character, the return of the Wasp, who, like the previous incarnation, will be paired with Ant-man.  Watch for that pairing in a future MCU Sunday installment.

Can't shrink.  Can't fly. But I can drive, so the old Plymouth will still get me home. Drive safely, folks.

 

Quiggy