Ant-Man Review

Headed out to the theater with TRC and friends last night to check out Ant-Man. It’s a Marvel movie, so I definitely wanted to check it out in the theater, and I wasn’t let down. An easy 9/10 for me. Not quite the best Marvel movie, but definitely worth your money.

I think the thing I liked most about it was how “on theme” it was. It’s a movie about a guy who can grow and shrink at will and command ants to do his bidding, so . . . it sounds like it could be pretty lame. A far cry from the over-the-top powers of other superheroes. But it’s those exact limitations that make it succeed where some other superhero movies have failed.

I’m reminded of Man of Steel, where I just ended up getting bored in the middle. (It was a fine movie, but the action sequences in particular dragged on after a while.) When all Superman does is go around punching things and punching them some more, it gets old. When his powers are so enormous as to make any real tension contrived at best, it’s not the greatest.

With Ant-Man, the writers had to come up with ways for the hero to use those limited powers to get things done that he shouldn’t be able to do at first glance. In that respect, it felt much more like a Brandon Sanderson magic system than a typical superhero movie. They devote a good chunk of time to defining exactly what Ant-Man can and can’t do, as opposed to Iron Man or Captain America or Thor, where the powers are much more loosey goosey. (They’re strong. They’ve got technology. But what exactly are the limits? Who knows?)

That’s not the case here, and I loved it for that. It also helped that those powers played such a big part in the plot. Ants everywhere! Shrinking things! Things getting bigger! It was a blast from beginning to end.

Not a perfect movie, but a great time for sure. I’d love to see more like it. It was even better that it was remarkably clean–just a few light swears now and then. TRC appreciated that there was hardly any real romance, as well. 🙂

Check this one out, even if most Marvel movies leave you wanting more. I think this is one of the better ones.

Leave a comment

×