Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is trying to set his life right after getting out of jail for a burglary where he gave bank customers back the profits made by a closing bank.
He has a daughter who doesn’t know him and a straight life to begin.
Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), a wealthy industrialist, needs someone to burgle his own invention, a suit that shrinks the wearer down to the size of an ant. When Pym finds Lang, he gets more than he bargained for, a superhero named Antman.
We say, “The pieces fit, the colony thrives, the ants go marching on.”
TAYLOR: I suspected I was going to like this movie: It’s a fun character, it’s the introductory chapter, it has every reason to be light and fun rather than heavy and serious. It also has a Paul Rudd, who while being a perfectly capable actor, is known for his comedic performances.
I was not disappointed. All the pieces fit: It was full of fun characters, exciting situations in strange, new environments, the insects’ point of view and 3D. It also didn’t waste too much time explaining their science or smoochy B-stories. Just the ants, ma’am.
HOWE: I, on the other hand, suspected I wasn’t going to enjoy this movie. I thought the concept of a superhero the size of an ant was, well, just silly. I am happy to say I was wrong and wrong big time. I haven’t enjoyed an action movie like this for a long time. Most of the last few comic book to big screen conversions have been pretty dark. This, on the other hand, is light and fluffy. This may go down as one of my favourite comic book movies, just slightly behind Batman. I took my just-turned eight-year-old son Fenin to this. Let’s see what he thought…
FENIN: I loved it, Dad. I thought it was very funny when he pressed the buttons on his suit and it made him tiny. He had all these little ants that helped him. It’s not as good as Thor but I really enjoyed it. It made me laugh and it wasn’t very sad. Yellow Jacket was a really good bad guy.
TAYLOR: There’s a bit of light swearing, one kiss, plenty of punching and throwing, nothing gross or too rude. I think a mature six year old could handle it, maybe not fully understand it, but enjoy it. Antman’s sidekicks, if they can be called that, led by a very funny Michael Peña, are three goofball criminals trying to help him pull of this caper with no cape. They’re a little more grown up, but kids will find them harmless. It’s comic book done right, on the light side. Everyone should enjoy Antman, regardless of your age. Movie of the summer, so far.
HOWE: The chase scenes were exciting and the fight sequences were not that violent, which is good for the younger audience. The 3D was well done and the shrinking of Lang to the size of an ant didn’t look ridiculous. For example, when Antman was zooming around on the back of his flying ant, it felt like you were flying around with him, like on a roller-coaster ride. I can’t wait for the sequel.
– Taylor gives Antman 4.5 spaces between particles out of 5.
– Fenin gives it 4 ants out of 5.
– Howe gives it 4.5 ant transmitters out of 5.
– Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are film reviewers based in Vernon. Their column, Reel Reviews, runs in The Morning Star every Friday and Sunday.
