Ant-Man

Iron Man meets The Incredible Shrinking Man!

Sorry, maybe I’ve always wanted to write taglines. Let me start over.

After a dark, violent, complicated epic, we now get to the most lighthearted MCU film. One reason for that is Paul Rudd’s effortless charm; the guy’s basically a walking smile. Another reason is the great visual gags to which a plot with a guy becoming insect-sized lends itself. Another reason is the dopey friends of the main character, especially the one who just can’t keep a story brief. He’s played by Michael Pena, who’s apparently taken over Luis Guzman’s job from a decade and a half ago as the perpetual Hispanic friend. This character is even named Luis!

The plot is quite simple – Michael Douglas’s character Hank invents the astonishing ant-man suit, his mentee steals the idea and plans to use it for nefarious purposes, Rudd’s shrewd but desperate-for-money Scott is recruited to save the day. Not a dull moment in this film.

I should mention the prologue, set in 1989, where Hank, successfully made to look young (or at least middle-aged), pitches his idea unsuccessfully to S.H.I.E.L.D. It features Haley Atwell, who played Agent Carter as a stunning young woman in Captain America: The First Avenger and as a dying elderly woman in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, playing her here as a beautiful post-middle-aged lady. It also features Howard Stark, Tony’s dad, who is mostly talked about as a long-deceased person but played as a young man by Dominic Cooper in Captain America: The First Avenger, played by John Slattery as a much older man. It’s so awesome how many decades the MCU movies span and how well they tie together.

It’s also amazing how varied the lot of them are and how much different appropriate talent they recruit. In this case one of the writers and contributors to the story was Edgar Wright, and who better to balance inventive visuals, great situational humor, and plenty of heart? He showcased all of that with his film Shaun of the Dead, although my favorite work of his is still that mock trailer “Don’t” in Grindhouse LOL.

Game: Slim pickens I guess – just the one winner named Michael Douglas. He was great though!

Up next: The MCU’s crown jewel!

Bottom line: Feel appropriate to share that old phrase “More fun than a barrel of monkeys.”