In the first film the mother of the family was saved from the “quantum world”. This time the entire family finds itself there, allowing the creators to make a weird and (too) computerized strange world which is in some ways remarkably alike the normal world.
Of course the family Pym / Van Dyke encounters a foe, but also rebels who they will help in their cause and at the same time attempt to get back to their own dimension.
Apparently I saw the first “Ant-Man” well before I started watching the Marvel franchise. At the time (2015) I was not impressed, still expecting a film with comic book elements. Yet the Ant-Man ‘concept’ is very familiar. Did I see the old film again or did Ant-Man appear in another Marvel production?
The scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) created a suit that can shrink a person. Initially using it together with his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), something went wrong and Pym put the project in the closet. Later the random Scott Lang becomes the new Ant-Man.
The thing that went wrong was that Pym’s wife went “sub atomic” and got lost, but Scott proves that coming back is possible, so in this second movie, the quest is to retrieve Janet van Dyke.
The only reference to the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” is that Ant-Man is under house arrest for having wreaked havoc together with the Avengers. During that period Hank Pym and his daughter (Hope van Dyke) have recreated the project and even expanded it. Now they can not only shrink a person in a suit, but they can shrink anything, whether a car or a complete building. This makes some amusing finds and brings an extra element to the ‘shrink-hit-grow’ type action scenes.
I find Ant-Man not the best Marvel character, he is a bit too goofy for me, but the shrinking-while-fighting concept does bring more of the amusing Marvel action.
The on demand catalogue of my TV provider already is pretty poor and then I choose a poor title from that catalogue as well…
“Ant-Man” is a Marvel, a comic put to film. Actually it is just another superhero film but without much spectacle or ‘comic-film’ effects. A scientist (Hank Pym, Michael Douglas) invented a machine that can reduce the space between atoms without loosing their original functionality. Having made a suit with that functionality, the wearer can shrink to the size of an ant while using his original powers. Of course bad people have bad plans and the good guys have to prevent the bad guys from doing bad things. You know the story.
The film is not really boring, but neither did I find it very entertaining. It is all pretty predictable and the film has a kids movie atmosphere. Perhaps a film to see a bit from when it happens to be on television, but I would not recommend you to try to see it.