Review: 'Ant-Man'

[vc_row][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text disable_pattern="true" align="left" margin_bottom="0"]Even fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will admit that it produces features with more than a few cookie-cutter elements. Not only do they exist mostly to advance a larger, never-ending story from A to B to C to D to god knows where, they're all quite similar in style and tone and stakes. Never has this been more apparent than in Avengers: Age of Ultron, also known as Superheroes vs. Robots. It felt strikingly like a placeholder, a one-off that had no repercussions and changed nothing. Save the world, make a few quips, repeat ad nauseam.

Ant-Man certainly doesn't disrupt the cinematic universe, Marvel or otherwise. At the same time, it's refreshing to see a Marvel movie that doesn't matter and knows it. The end result is "hey, here's a man who is also an ant" and that ends up serving everyone involved perfectly.

Paul Rudd stars as the titular hero, who's also known as Scott Lang. He's a thief, recently released from prison and doing his best to clean up his act. His wife (Judy Greer) won't let him see his daughter until he gets a job and pays child support. His friends (Michael Peña, T.I. and David Dastmalchian) are chatty fellow burglars who want to pull him back into the life. And his prospects are nil; he can't even keep a job at Baskin-Robbins.

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