This is the first (and only) Marvel Cinematic Universe film I skipped when it went to the theaters. I could not (would not) purposefully pay to see an Ant-Man movie. The irony of this is I DID pay to see Aquaman which…I still cannot explain why I paid to see Aquaman. Regardless, this was the Marvel film that I could not see any value in. A character who can shrink to the size of an atom and control ants through mind control? No thanks.
Reflecting on this decision to actively avoid Ant-Man makes me think about why I prefer some heroes over others. Kevin Smith has been famous for his critiques of superhero literature throughout his entire career, and he once famously said, “It’s all bullshit.” While that may be an oversimplification of the genre, Smith is correct in highlighting the ridiculousness of the hierarchy of superheroes. How are Batman or Spider-Man or Iron Man intrinsically any better than Ant-man? The brutal truth is that they are not; all superheroes are born of a similar concoction of gimmick-ridden powers and moral ambiguity. Ant-Man is no different. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is an ex-con with a heart of gold who is simply trying to see his daughter and resorts to questionable actions resulting in acquiring the Ant-Man suit.
Gian kept telling me, “This is a caper movie!” and hyping up the film. Sandy told me, “It’s good, Alex!” After one hour and fifty-eight minutes of Ant-Man action, I came to my own opinion: meh. Ant-Man is alright, but that’s being generous. Paul Rudd is a talented comedian with good timing, and I laughed at some of his jokes throughout, but Ant-Man felt like the comic relief in a Shakespeare play: Your teacher tells you it is hilarious and then you read it and say, “That was the funny part?”
However, in a nearly two hour movie, one narrative trope was genuinely hilarious: Scott Lang’s friend Luis (Michael Peña). Luis’ storytelling sequences that are simultaneously narrated and acted out are the gold in this movie. The sequences are stylized to be equal parts frantic, absurd, and entertaining. After watching this movie, I could barely remember why Ant-man was fighting Yellow Jacket, but I could completely remember the details of Luis’ stories.
After we finished the film, Gian said, “This was the palette cleanser between the jumbled mess of Avengers: Age of Ultron and the dour seriousness of Captain America: Civil War.” I agree with Gian that it is a palette cleanser, but I also think of the film in another way. If you simply skipped watching Ant-Man while going through the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, would it impact your understanding of the overall arc of the movies? No, and the reason I know this is because I did skip it and never thought twice about it until this past week when we watched the film.
I also didn't see this before Captain America Civil War. I only begrudgingly decided to watch it after that, when it was on television. I liked the movie more than I thought I would, but I also agree that skipping it didn't impact my ability to understand the arc.
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