Ant-Man?

Rating: 8/10 (19 April 2016)

Released in 2015, "Ant-Man" stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, a cat burglar who is offered redemption and the opportunity to be a hero. Michael Douglas plays his mentor, Hank Pym, and Evangeline Lilly Pym's daughter; meanwhile Corey Stoll co-stars as the heavy.
In my vast arsenal of old comics I have only one issue where Ant-Man is the main star: Marvel Feature #10, which featured Hank Pym as the hero, not to mention his wife, the Wasp, AKA Janet van Dyne. The character's run in that comic ceased with that very issue. By the 80s Scott Lang, a good-intentioned thief, became Ant-Man after stealing Pym's Ant-Man suit to save his daughter. With the encouragement of Pym, Lang became Ant-Man full-time.
The movie is based on these events and I was surprised at how entertaining it is considering how relatively minor the hero is. The movie even makes a joke about this when Ant-Man comes face-to-face with the Falcon (Anthony Mackie). Speaking of which, it's great to see the Falcon in action. It's also great to see Yellowjacket who, in the comics, was Hank Pym after Lang took over as Ant-Man. In the movie Yellowjacket is the villain (Stoll), which is okay since Pym's Yellowjacket in the comics sort of became a villain when he had a mental breakdown and was eventually divorced by Janet, the Wasp. The filmmakers incidentally did an excellent job with the Yellowjacket suit.
"Ant-Man" was a surprise hit at the box office and understandably so. It's a quality superhero flick done with style and brimming with confidence. It's nothing more than this, but that's all it needs to be. It's nice to see Michael Douglas who was, believe-it-or-not, 70 years-old during shooting. He shines in the movie as Pym and could easily pass for ten years younger. I also really liked the Quantum Realm sequence when Lang is reduced to microscopic size.
The film runs 117 minutes and was shot in Georgia and San Francisco, CA. ADDITIONAL CAST: Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale and Michael Peña.
GRADE: B+/A-