Some thoughts about Ant-Man

1. Fun heist movie! With jumping and punching!
2. For some reason, even though it’s ANT-Man, I didn’t realize there would be so many, well, ants. (I have Issues with ants.) Which at first was omgwtfbbq, but eventually I got used to them. For whatever reason, it was actually easier to deal with when the protagonist was ant-sized. Something something special effects?
3. I like how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is interwoven in the fabric of the world, like those events and characters are just an understandable well-known feature of the world as it is. I’m sure there’s even things I would’ve picked up more had I seen Age of Ultron.
4. I guess I hadn’t realized Michael Douglas was in this movie? Most of the time I do not enjoy his parts: well-acted, but hateful characters. This is probably my favorite thing with him since Streets of San Francisco. (Kids, ask your parents.)
5. There are four female characters, and one is in the prologue, and the only two who talk to each other are the ex-wife and very young daughter of the protagonist. Bechdel-test-passing it is not. I like action movies; I would like to see more action movies where I don’t feel like my entire gender is off to the side. That said, there is some interesting stuff going on with Hope and Hank Pym.
6. I’ve gotten “used to” gender problems in action movies; what stood out to me in Ant-Man was the race (and class?) issue, what with the ethnic stereotype ex-con “sidekicks.” TBH, the whole thing about the protagonist being a fallen middle-class white guy felt off/uncomfortable, and even more so when his roommates come to the Pym mansion, because their identities get played so heavily for laughs.
7. I also have some nebulous thoughts about incarceration issues, but I can’t quite put it into words (yet).

So overall: I enjoyed it, but with significant caveats. I’d totally watch it again; we’ll see if those issues overwhelm the fun! explosions! aspects over time.

(Also: my action movies will be intersectional or they will be bullshit.)