Let’s mark the changing seasons with the last summer blockbuster of the year.

What’s It About? Corporate thief Scott Lang is hired by a reclusive scientist to become the shrinking hero Ant-Man and prevent powerful tech secrets from falling into the wrong hands.

STRAIGHT UP: Fun, but weightless. 3/5

What I Liked

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man – Rudd is the centerpiece of this film. He’s clearly having a good time and gets to crack some choice one-liners. Scott is more self-deprecating than other Marvel heroes, which helps him stand out a little bit.

Perspective-shifting action scenes – Seeing grandiose fight scenes play out in micro-scale in such locations as “inside a suitcase” and “atop a toy train track” is an entertaining mind trip. Ant-Man’s ability to exploit size differences between himself and his opponents also leads to some pretty creative takedowns.

Heist plot – Ant-Man diverges from the in-your-face action of other recent Marvel films in favor of a simple heist plot in its second and third acts. It’s a nice change-up after Age of Ultron, and besides that, I love a good movie caper.

The ants – They’re kinda cute. I don’t know how they managed to make ants seem cute, but good job.

What I Disliked

Unfair pariah – As explained early in the film, Scott was previously in jail for hacking, even though his actions exposed wide-scale corporate fraud. He’s a non-violent criminal with altruistic motives, but everyone treats him like a sex offender for some reason.

Cut-rate side characters – This movie takes a ton of shortcuts with its supporting cast. Darren Cross is a bland stock villain, Hope van Dyne is a bitch until it’s time for her to be the hero’s love interest, and a bit of critically-important backstory involving Hank Pym and his wife is majorly glossed over.

Scott’s overly-precocious daughter – Scott is motivated to be a hero by his daughter, who’s not so much a character as a MacGuffin designed to emotionally manipulate the audience. Every line out of her mouth is an on-the-nose reminder of how much she loves her daddy, which made my eyes roll non-stop.

No greater purpose – Most of the “Phase 2” Marvel movies have had a tangible connection to previous and future films in the canon; even when new characters are introduced, their role and the effects of their actions in the larger universe are clear. I didn’t feel that way about Ant-Man; this movie basically just exists to add one more marketable character to the Avengers 3 roster.

CLOSING THOUGHT: I’m finally beginning to understand “superhero fatigue” after seeing this movie. It’s not that I’m bored with superheroes in general, but I’m starting to get tired of Marvel’s standard-issue approach to them. I’m tired of origin stories; tired of every “breakout” Marvel hero being another quippy, confident white guy; tired of keeping track of this gigantic character roster and wondering if it’s really necessary to squeeze every single one of them into the next Avengers film. I wish Edgar Wright had stayed on this project – then it might’ve had enough style and attitude to stand on its own and keep me from thinking these things. Ant-Man is still fun as it is, but I’m also kind of disappointed in it; it’s the first Marvel movie that I’ve had trouble remembering what happened just a few hours after leaving the theater.