In many ways, Ant-Man — Marvel’s latest addition to its cinematic superhero pantheon — feels like a response to criticisms leveled at the studio lately. Namely: the films’ lack of any female superheroes; and their penchant for rampant destruction with little regard for the consequences. Ant-Man handles the latter with a gonzo sense of creativity and clever humor. Marvel’s response to female representation issues, however, doesn’t quite stick the landing.
Ant-Man starts with the story of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), a brilliant scientist who, as a younger man, created a particle that allowed him to shrink to the size of, you guessed it, an ant. In the present day, Pym’s power-mad protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) attempts to crack the secret of the Pym Particle and make his own version for as a weapon for mass production. Hank and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) recruit Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a recently paroled thief with a heart of gold, to don the ant-man suit and foil Cross.
Despite the potential for a movie like Ant-Man to suffer from superhero fatigue (it is, after all, the second Marvel movie to come out in just over two months), the film is a mostly refreshing entry in an ever-more hulking genre. It manages to avoid feeling overstuffed by keeping things light — not just in tone but in scope — in a way that harkens back to 2008’s Iron Man.
But as much as Ant-Man feels like a throwback, it also understands the current problems inherent in the Marvel dynasty. One of these is destruction. Superhero films are violent enterprises — they involve fighting, and sometimes the scale of that fighting is huge. But when it comes addressing the impact of all that destruction, they tend to be weirdly passive. Ant-Man employs a creative approach to this problem that minimizes outside damage while maintaining the gosh-wow special effects that are the genre’s bread and butter. Bombs make buildings implode, not explode. A climactic encounter involves a battle on a speeding toy train set.
Creativity has never been Marvel’s problem. Female representation, on the other hand, has.
To that end, Ant-Man attempts to address the woman-shaped hole in Marvel’s roster through the character of Hope, and it’s here that the film falters.
Hope is an excellent fighter and extremely smart. With her knowledge of her father Hank’s work and her role within Pym Industries, she’s the natural choice to lead the mission for which Scott Lang is recruited. But she gets stuck on the sidelines. While the film addresses this through Hank’s concern for her well-being, as well as his experience losing Hope’s mother Janet in action — a choice that certainly makes sense for Hank’s character — Ant-Man chooses to let the matter lie there, instead of further addressing it. A post-credits scene shows Hope getting her own costume, though as of yet, she won’t be getting her own film.
Ant-Man stands on its own as an entertaining, smartly funny film, while also fitting neatly into the Marvel cinematic universe. It uses a sense of scale to open up possibilities for action sequences that feel new, and keep it from feeling like so many other hero movies hitting screens lately. But, at least in its movies, Marvel still hasn’t figured out a way to include women in a way that feels fully fair.
The studio is making strides, but if Ant-Man is any indication, they’re satisfied with baby steps where epic leaps are required.
Ant-Man is in theaters now. WATCH the trailer here.
Abby Olcese is a freelance film critic and writer based in Missouri. You can find her on Twitter @abbyolcese.
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