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Jacqueline Monahan's Movie Reviews

Ant-Man (3-D) | Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, T.I., Anthony Mackie | Review

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Jacqueline  Monahan

Las Vegas Round The Clock
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Jacqueline Monahan is an educator for the GEAR UP program at UNLV.
She is also an entertainment reporter for Lasvegasroundtheclock.com
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Ant-Man (3-D) | Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, T.I., Anthony Mackie | Review

This is one ant you’ll want at your picnic, especially if there are bad guys around.  He’s tiny but packs the punch of a 200-pound man.  He can shrink through a keyhole and enlarge instantly.  He can fly on the back of a carpenter ant, commanding thousands of six-legged soldiers.

He is Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) a convicted felon newly released from federal prison for crimes that rival those of Robin Hood – hacking into financial accounts swindled from innocent people by a big, bad corporation, and then returning those funds to the victims.  So he’s really a good guy that broke the law for a noble (albeit illegal) cause. He’s also a devoted dad to his daughter (Abby Ryder Fortson) but clashes with ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her new husband, Police Officer Paxton (Bobby Cannavale).

Unbeknownst to Lang, he’s been observed and chosen by one Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) of Pym Industries, to wear the miniscule titular suit he developed that defies physics by compressing and expanding atoms.  Pym needs a tiny warrior to combat conniving former protégé Darren Cross* (Corey Stoll) from perfecting the Yellow Jacket, a rival suit (sans some crucial specs that only Pym has) for sale to the highest bidder (read HYDRA, gasp!)

*Hey, this is Marvel, after all, so why shouldn’t the villain have the initials DC?  Makes sense – they are rivals as well.  How about our hero Scott Lang?  Same initials as comics creator Stan Lee, who makes his usual pop-up late in the film.

Despite the objection of Pym’s daughter (Evangeline Lilly) a high-ranking Pym Industries executive who opposes Cross’s motives and covets the Ant-Man suit herself, Lang trains and prepares for his mission.

Aside from the multitude of inventive micro and macro shots in 3D, Ant-Man really hits its stride with a clever script by a quintet of writers that include Paul Rudd and Stan Lee, who never lets things get too maudlin.  Sentimental dialogue is always upstaged by wiseass comments and observations.  Way to cut the schmaltz and step up the comic timing, guys.

Michael Peña and T.I. provide comic relief as members of Lang’s street smart posse and Anthony Mackie makes an appearance as Falcon, who finds out first hand that a tiny size doesn’t always mean tiny strength.

Director Payton Reed (Bring It On) maneuvers from sub-atomic to enormous with both his props and his players, making Ant-Man into one giant Marvel picnic.  The film hits on all cylinders (or should I say, all six legs) and comes with not one but two Easter eggs at the end of some very long credits.  

We haven’t seen the last of this tiny super formacidae yet.  The anticipation is already making some of us…antsy.

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