Marvel's Ant-Man (2015)

I have to say, when I first heard about Marvel’s Ant-Man, I couldn’t hardly get past the name. Call me discriminatory or just plain judgmental, but really…Ant-Man? However, once I saw the trailer and realized Marvel had the good grace to laugh at their own name? Well, I started to come around. I needed a bit more convincing before deciding whether or not to see it in the theater, and the opinion of a friend always helps me think these things through.

In that vein, this week we have a visitor! Sharing her review of Ant-Man, is guest reviewer and friend Sascha H.

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I’ve been hooked on Marvel movies since seeing Thor for the first time. My favorite heroes are always the ones that actually act heroic, humble and, sometimes, nerds. From what I knew of Ant-Man he was one of the humble nerds.

I was thinking of Hank Pym.

The original Ant-Man.

Regardless, I was happily surprised by this movie. While there is an annoyingly high amount of foul language, I was able to ‘skip’ my brain past most instances and enjoy the movie in spite of it.

The gist of the story is this: Dr. Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D, confronts the founders of the organization for attempting to replicate one of his experiments. He quits, and we move to the main character Scott Lang. Scott is an ex-convict desperately trying to find a job so he can help support his daughter and see her again. After being rejected and fired multiple times, he finally gives into his friend Luis’s convoluted robbery. This eventually leads to meeting Dr. Pym and training to become the Ant-Man so that he may finally see his daughter again.

I tried not to give too many spoilers in there… So if the story doesn’t make sense yet, that’s fine.

The main theme of the story is father-daughter relationships; Dr. Pym and his daughter Hope, and Scott and his daughter Cassie. Cassie is an adorable character where when her daddy gives her a birthday present she says:

“It’s so ugly! I love it!”

There are so many things to make you laugh in this story as well! The fight scenes are both intense and ridiculous, training is serious, but with funny awkward moments, and the comments about the Titanic were hilarious!

I rate this among my top 5 Superhero movies. The plot is fairly fast-paced and the humor (and cameos!) keep you engaged, distracting the viewer from the foul language. I loved it and hope you do too. Be sure to stay for the mid-credits AND the after credits scenes!

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Thanks, Sascha, for the review! I have to say, after hearing so many people’s opinions on this film, I’m pretty excited to see it. Will I make it to the theater? Maybe, but I’m not quite sure yet. I tend to prioritize my theater trips according to how excited I am about a movie beforehand, and pare down to one or two trips a year. This one has only lately hit my radar as something I would probably really enjoy.

Theater or not, though, I am very much looking forward to a new (to me) Marvel superhero. Marvel was won a certain amount of trust from me with the Avengers series of films. Their characters have been exciting and unique, and taught many valuable lessons that seemed to have disappeared from superhero films – the value of honor, trust, bravery, self-sacrifice and yes, humility. And of course, the most important lesson of all: