Ant-Man has just hit cinemas in the UK, with the action-packed comedy escapade heading straight for the box office sugar mountain. With its story of a house thief who gets more than he bargains for when he pinches a mysterious suit that makes shrinking in the wash look like a walk in the park, it falls squarely on the lighter side of Marvel Studios, alongside Iron Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy.
The concept of a man who becomes the height a bug may appear quaint to today’s audiences, but the movie has certainly blown away the cobwebs, creating a spectacle that cinemagoers and critics have so far taken to like a moth to a Wicker Man. Of course, it also follows in a long tradition of characters with tiny but tortuous problems. Despite being small, they fill the screen, from Alice In Wonderland to Innerspace.
So find a nice comfy teabag to sit on and beware of the neighbourhood cat as THN gives you a pocket-sized rundown of some memorable entries in the thimble-sized canon…!
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957)
The Fifties were rife with paranoia about everything from the red lipstick of femme fatales to the Red Menace of Communism. Even the weather got a hammering in The Incredible Shrinking Man, the definitive account of a guy losing his stature in more ways than one!
A bizarre cloud was the cause of Scott Carey (Grant Williams)’s troubles, and it wasn’t long before he experienced a hefty blast of Whiskas breath via a formerly-harmless kitty. The tic tac-sized adventures of this unfortunate businessman proved a hit for Universal.
I Am Legend‘s Richard Matheson wrote the script, based on his book The Shrinking Man. MGM are mulling over a remake, and are no doubt watching Ant-Man like a miniature hawk to see how it fares.
THE FLY (1958)
A big problem for Scott Lang/Ant-Man would be the common housefly. Scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison) took the issue of winged pests to new extremes when he accidentally mashed his DNA with that of a buzzing blighter when testing a home-made teleporter.
Before he could tell his abdomen from his elbow, he’d mutated into a gruesome, man-sized insect. But the biggest talking point of the 20th Century Fox production was the end sequence. We all saw Delambre transform into the title monster, but what about the poor nibbler of dung at the other end?
In a hilarious but chilling scene, it’s revealed the fly has become a man, Hedison’s shrunken head screaming for help with his body caught in a spider’s web, at the mercy of an eight-legged diner. The high-pitched squeak of “Help me!” was unfortunately not used in the gory 1986 remake.
THE SECRET SERVICE (1969)
Thunderbirds is currently undergoing a successful revival on TV, but the one show that saw producer Gerry Anderson‘s fortunes sink like a Daddy Longlegs landing in a jar of honey was The Secret Service.
One perhaps for the “What were they thinking?” file, it starred comedian Stanley Unwin as a crime-busting vicar with a penchant for gibberish. Among his hidden talents lay a device that would boggle the mind of Ant-Man‘s tech genius Hank Pym.
You see, this man of the cloth was also a man of immense shrinking ability, turning his invention the Minimiser on assistant Matthew for the ultimate in covert activity. Well, almost – the plots often saw the character reduced to the size of a four year old. Great if he wanted to fit through a catflap I suppose!
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (1989)
Disney are the distributors of Ant-Man, but it’s by no means the first time they’ve lent their mouse-shaped credentials to a movie about size reduction with hilarious consequences. As the decade that consolidated the blockbuster came to a close, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids became an unexpected smash for the studio.
Taking the sensibility of The Incredible Shrinking Man and adding a dash of high concept Eighties sass (well, an in-demand Rick Moranis at any rate), the plot concerned inventor Wayne Szalinski’s wacky ray gun, that inevitably zapped his kids to pea-scale, leading to a battle for survival in the garden, fighting everything from scorpions to (appropriately enough) ants.
The concept got milked for two sequels, Honey I Blew Up The Baby (which involved an increase in height, as opposed to high explosives) and belated straight-to-video offering Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.
ANT-MAN (2015)
After a long gestation period, Marvel’s latest superhero finally arrives to take out the tiny trash at the multiplex. Bucking the trend of recent superhero movies – albeit inadvertently – with their heavy investment in directors, Ant-Man could have had boiling water poured on its nest by the sudden departure of British helmer Edgar Wright.
Wright’s well-documented passion for the project was sorely missed. However, replacement Peyton Reed has reportedly kept the ball rolling like a marble through a ladybird convention. The film’s star, actor and comedian Paul Rudd, also pitched in by jumping aboard on script duties, assisted by Will Ferrell‘s partner in crime, Adam McKay.
The result is a breezy romp with as many chuckles as Avengers references. Whether the novelty factor will sustain it into the record books is a question for the gods (probably Thor). But one thing is certain – Ant-Man has paved the way for that 1950s idea of incredible shrinking men (and women!) to make a return to modern day cinema.
Ant-Man is out now in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D. It stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña and Michael Douglas. It’s directed by Peyton Reed and written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd, based on the Marvel Comics character. Read our review here.
