There’s a cliché about how hard it is to herd cats.  Now imagine herding ants!  That’s the problem facing Paul Rudd.  To become the Ant Man, he not only has to learn how to use his ant man suit, he has to learn how to get ants (who are not the brainiest creatures on earth) to obey him.  This is the fun part of the movie.

Unfortunately, we are nearly half way through the movie before he puts on the Ant Man suit.  The whole first half seems like it belongs to a different movie.  Paul Rudd plays a man just released from prison and struggling to find work.  This seems like it will be a movie of social commentary.  As a convicted felon, he can’t find work and is finally forced to go back to being a cat burglar.  Meantime, he’s trying to have a relationship with his daughter against the wishes of his ex-wife and her new husband.  All this is interesting but made me wonder if I had wandered into the wrong movie.

Meantime, there’s another plot involving Michael Douglas, his daughter, Evangeline Lilly and his scheming assistant, Corey Stoll.  In brief, Michael Douglas had invented the Ant Man suit and it’s been stolen by Corey Stoll who is going to use it for Evil Purposes.

We are in the Avengers’ universe so the fate of the world is at stake.  Paul Rudd is recruited to learn to use the Ant Man suit and from then on it’s pretty much non-stop action.  All the leads are wonderful, especially Michael Douglas who can do no wrong (in my opinion).

It seems obvious Ant Man was made only because The Avengers are popular right now but it’s good entertainment as long as you don’t expect anything more than that.

Marian Powell