Ant-Man

Marvel’s tiniest hero! Now starring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s smallest movie so far. It’s also the most run-of-the-mill.

This was bound to happen eventually. There are only so many ways you can take a guy – always a guy! – who’s a little bit messed up but basically a decent fellow who just needs a little redemption to set him on the right road, expose him to a little magical mad science, give him a special suit to run around in, and set him loose on the bad guys.

We have seen all this before. The details vary, but not a lot. I adore Paul Rudd, headlining here as cat burglar Scott Lang turned compact superhero in a suit that shrinks him to the size of an insect, so it pains me to say that he comes across as a paler shadow of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man. Rudd’s charm is undeniable but feels lost among the big comic-book action, which is more suited to the broader comedy of Michael Peña as Lang’s former partner in crime, Luis. (Peña is a riot; he has always been a riveting screen presence, but I had no idea he could be this funny.) Scott is downsized in almost every way from the typical larger-than-life superheroes, but not in any way that the movie takes advantage of: It’s a simple, straightforward origin adventure like we’ve seen too many times to be surprised.

The film gets so close to finding a different path. We’ve been promised a Marvel movie somewhere off in the future about a female superhero, but Ant-Man could have been it. The movie directly confronts the fact that it would make much more sense for Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), daughter of the scientist creator of Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), to wear the Ant-Man suit and engage in the heroics required. Then the movie strains to invent reasons why she must instead train Lang to do the job she more than capable of doing instead. The four (male) screenwriters may have thought this was a feminist nod to how male-dominated comic-book movies are, but all it does is underscore the problem and sideline a great female character. Worse, it’s hinted that Hope may get to wear her own Ant-Man suit in a future film, which only raises the question: Why couldn’t she do so now? Why not start there?

Those screenwriters are Rudd, Adam McKay, Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright, the latter of whom was originally slated to direct the film. The stamp of Wright’s unique and invigorating visual staccato pops up here occasionally – it’s in those bits where the film is its most fun. Peyton Reed took over as director, and Ant-Man is a positive joy compared to his two most recent movies, The Break-Up and Yes Man, though he debuted with 2000’s awesome cheerleader comedy Bring It On. His second film was 2003’s funky retro rom-com Down with Love, yet there’s little sense of any style or personality of Reed’s in the film.

That those few Wright-ish hints survived to make it into the final movie is perhaps the only truly unexpected thing here: now that Hollywood only has other people’s sandboxes for filmmakers to play in these days, there’s a samey sameness to all the big blockbusters. This is very much in the Avengers universe, and it even deals in a smart way with the obvious question of “Why don’t we just call the Avengers to solve our problems?” But in having a party line to toe and a visual blandness to match, this cannot help but be a minor chapter in the Marvel story.

ANT MAN (2 1/2) Directed by Peyton Reed • Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale • Rated PG-13 • 117 mins. • At Maya Cinemas, Century Cinemas Del Monte, Northridge Cinemas, Lighthouse Cinemas, Cannery Row XD.