At long last Marvel Studios offers up a superhero smaller than its artistic ambitions. Paul Rudd stars as an ex-con recruited by scientist Michael Douglas to test a high-tech suit that reduces Rudd to the size of an insect; why this would be an asset isn’t clear—when it’s me versus an ant, I almost always win—but that’s OK because Rudd’s nemesis is another guy who’s stolen the technology. Edgar Wright, the offscreen collaborator of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End), contributed to the screenplay, and Rudd applies his usual light touch to the snarky moments; these mix uneasily with the dramatic scenes, which are so phony you wonder why anyone even bothered. I enjoyed the scenes in which Rudd first tries to function in a world of giant household objects, but only because they reminded me of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). With Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Anthony Mackie, Judy Greer, and Michael Peña.
Ant-Man
PG-13 • 1 hour 57 min • 2015
