“Second chances don’t come around that often.”--Dr. Hank Pym.
As I’ve re-watched the MCU films during this blog movie research project, I’ve come to see more and more that the overarching theme of the Marvel films is redemption. Character after character in the MCU makes mistakes, then tries to figure out how to do better and make amends for those misteps. Tony Stark screws up from arrogance, Steve Rogers struggles after being ripped out of time, Thor thinks he’s too powerful to be laid low by pride, and Loki almost lets bitterness totally consume him. But each character finds a path forward by learning from their mistakes.
And so, by the time we get to Ant-Man (2015; directed by Peyton Reed), the writers (Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, and Ant-Man himself Paul Rudd!) build the entire story around Scott Lang’s struggle to find redemption. Lang gets out of prison and wants to win back the right to see his daughter Cassie (nicely played by Abby Ryder Fortson). But because of his prison record, he can’t hold down a job and pay child support. His lack of finances also means he ends up living with his old cellmate, Luis (played with perfect comedic delivery by Michael Peña). Luis and his criminal associates then keep asking Scott to pull off what they claim is a sure-fire big score heist. Scott refuses, but when he loses yet another crummy job (at Baskin Robbins of all places!), he finally agrees out of a combination of frustration and desperation. And so, he ends up right back in the downward spiral of crime. As Hank (played by Michael Douglas in one of the best of all the big movie star MCU appearances) later admonishes him, “The moment things get hard, you turn right back to crime.”
The film is light-hearted good fun, full of laughs and cool shrinking effects. But the backdrop of criminal recidivism it portrays is troubling. According to a 2020 article on “Incarceration” by HealthyPeople.gov, “The U.S. releases over 7 million people from jail and more than 600,000 people from prison each year. However, recidivism is common. Within 3 years of their release, 2 out of 3 people are rearrested and more than 50% are incarcerated again” (https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/incarceration).
While bungling criminals are funny to watch, the truth is that lack of economic opportunity pushes too many people down paths on which they do not wish to be. This happens to Scott in the film, and we should especially worry about the problem of recidivism during this pandemic-caused economic downturn in which unemployment has been at its highest level since the Great Depression. While Congress argues endlessly about providing relief aid, ordinary people struggle to make ends meet.
Of course, Ant-Man doesn’t take us too far into the dark world of crime. It’s more of a fun caper movie, in the grand tradition of great caper movies like The Sting and Ocean’s Eleven.To find real crime, you need to turn to Marvel’s masterful Netflix series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage (but don’t bother with Iron Fist unless you are the most diehard superhero fan). Ant-Man really can’t get too dark because Paul Rudd is simply too likable. It’s hard to imagine him as a criminal at all which makes it much easier for us to imagine him as a superhero-in-training. His bungling attempts to learn to use the Ant-Man suit’s powers make for some of the film’s best laughs. And although Hank Pym’s troubling experiences from being Ant-Man in the past make him too afraid to let his daughter Hope (played with wonderful force by Evangeline Lilly) put on the suit, as she kicks Scott’s butt in training, it’s clear she’s the one actually meant to be a superhero.
Fortunately, Scott does master the suit’s powers in time to save the day. That enables him to to leave his life of crime fully behind him and reunite with Cassie. And along the way, we get one of the best speeches about why we have to try to rise above our mistakes when Hank tells Scott: “Second chances don't come around all that often. I suggest you take a really close look at it. This is your chance to earn that look in your daughter's eyes, to become the hero that she already thinks you are.”
As we reach the end of 2020 (thankfully), Ant-Man is a great film for helping us to think about how to leave our mistakes behind and do the most we can with those rare second chances when they come our way.
Gian, thanks for pointing that out about recidivism. It's important even if it is only glossed over in the movie.
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