Ant-Man is the latest installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s about Scott Lang as he becomes the new Ant-Man, but his troubled past catches up with him when he plots a heist with an older inventor bent on saving the world from certain destruction, so this time his criminal skills are put to good use.
This film is directed by Peyton Reed with a screenplay from Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd. The film stars Rudd (as Scott Lang), Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena, Tip Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas.
The good; the film looks amazing! The special effect in Ant-Man are top notch, I know it’s all done with computers but this film looks better than Jurassic World. The filmmakers chose to shoot the ‘small’ scenes in a different way, making it distinguishable from the ‘real world,’ this was a smart choice in that it gave us a visual queue. There’s something in the motion capture or the rendering, but when Ant-Man is tiny with the ants, at no point did a certain shot or scene jump out at me as being created in the computer. When you watch this film you’ll truly believe that a man can shrink.
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is perfectly cast, he brings a likeability and human quality to Scott Lang, and not to mention, his comedic timing is spot on. I’m glad that Michael Douglas’ role was so essential, and that he wasn’t relegated to a bit part (oh and when he first appears on screen, he looks great, the cg done to his face is amazing!). Having these two personalities helped with the writing, Ant-Man isn’t your typical origin story, sure there is an origin, but it’s more about the characters, the science and logic of it all wasn’t something that the film dwelled too much on, instead the focus was on characters’ motivations. This especially can be said of the film’s climax, glad they went small (pun intended) rather than for spectacle.
I was fearful that Michael Pena’s character would be too much, but the stuff with him and his crew was a perfect balance from the plot driving and the superheroics. Amazing performances all around from everyone, Ant-Man‘s cast really delivers a roller coaster of emotions (serious, dramatic, heart felt, humor, adventure… etc).
The bad; it doesn’t seem like people are giving this one a shot, it was only a couple years ago that Iron Man came out and no one (outside of comic book readers) knew who Tony Stark was. They’ll give that a shot, but not Ant-Man?? I hope word of mouth spreads, cause you’re doing yourself a disservice by not checking this film out.
Overall, a very fun movie through and through. The humor throughout is a delight, and I know this will go against all geek-dom, but it seems like the correct choice for Marvel and Edgar Wright to part ways on this film. We were all saddened when we heard that Wright would no longer be attached to the project, but you can tell where his mark was left intact.
There are obvious similarities to Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (an ant befriends a human, said ant has a ant base name… Anty vs Ant-hony…), which is ironic that both movies are Disney movies. In this post 9-11 era it’s very refreshing to have a fun superhero movie where there isn’t survivor’s guilt or broody brows. DC needs to stop playing catch up with their superhero movies, not everything has to be Batman-ified.
Rudd and Douglas really sell you on this idea of the Ant-Man, Rudd makes Lang a like-able criminal and you immediately connect with his character. What sold me is when Pym asks Lang what should they do? Lang responds with, “We should call the Avengers.” I almost always think that in every movie, hah!
What really makes this movie though, is that it’s not only a comic book movie, but it’s a heist movie. Welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Ant-Man! DC has big shoes to fill with their cadre of superheroes coming out.
Oh and there are two credits scenes, one mid-way, and one at the end. As always, you should stay for the credits, regardless if there’s an extra scene.
