Ant Man Review

A SMALL FILM IN A BIG UNIVERSE

A Reel World Review - My Collection

ANT MAN

Before I start I feel I should say "SPOILER ALERT" but come on, everyone who is interested in the film should have seen it by now, so actually now thinking about it, this may be a pointless review...

...but, this is a Marvel movie so there is no way I am not going to give my opinion. So, Ant Man. As the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to be released after Avengers: Age of Ultron, it had to live up to other Marvel movies which, I believe, it did. The first new character solo movie out for a while, this film introduces us to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a self-confessed but reformed ex-thief, trying to do right by his daughter.

"Technically I didn't rob them, robbery involves threat. I hate violence, I'm a cat-burglar"

The opening scene, set in 1989, uses a bit of movie magic with the help of a brilliant visual effects team, to show a younger Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the creator and original wearer of the Ant Man suit, disagrreing with Howard Stark (John Slattery) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) after discovering S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempt to replicate his technology as he believes it to be dangerous.

Jump forward 25 years and we see Scott being released from prison and looking to go straight, but he is unable to find job and until he can provide child support for his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her partner, Paxton (Bobby Cannavale), won't let him see her. He decides to take up an offer from friend and fellow ex-convict Luis (Michael Peña), an extremely enthusiatic character with some of the best lines in the movie, of another supposedly profitable and easy heist.

After breaking into a strong and heavily protected vault, Scott is surprised to find nothing but a weird looking suit. Back at home Scott tries on the suit (and steps into the bath for some reason) then presses a button on the glove. He immediately shrinks down to the size of, you guessed it, an ant and then a voice starts speaking to him. It's a "trial by water" the voices says as Luis starts to fill the bath. Fortunately he is through from the bath tub, only for it to turn to a trial by DJ, then vacuum cleaner and car roof before he is eventually arrested for returning the suit.

Hank then gets Scott out of police custody, with the help of some six-legged friends, and asks him to "become the Ant Man" in order to get his shot at redemption. 

 "Absolutely, my days of breaking into places and stealing stuff are over. What do you want me do?

          "I want you to break into a place and steal some stuff"

                    "Makes sense"

After some training on the science behind the suit from Hank and some physical training from his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), the trio attempt to steal the Yellowjacket, a similar piece of technology to the Ant Man suit, but with weapons upgrades, from Hank's former protégé, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) and from there chaos ensues...

The film itself is one of the more comedic movies to come from the MCU, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy in both humour levels and "heart breaking" moments, with the death of Anthony akin to Groot's sacrifice (okay, so maybe that's a little exaggerated!)

The casting choices made by Marvel were ingenious. Paul Rudd is the perfect choice for the titular character, playing a very likeable and down-to-earth Scott Lang and with the addition of Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly as the slighly more serious characters with a conflicted father/daughter relationship, the three play off of each other brillantly. My only slight complaint is that Yellowjacket is not one of Marvel's greatest villians (but not the worst either!) but even so, Darren Cross is still depicted well by Stoll.

Also, the imagination behind the story was top notch, especially during the action sequences with objects continually changing size and the constant changes of perspective, from a miniature one to one of a full-sized person worked particularly well, especially during the train set battle between Ant Man and Yellowjacket, adding some fun to a semi-serious scene.

And finally, as this was was Ant Man's first film outing and if you weren't aware of the MCU, I could forgive you for seeing this as a stand alone superhero movie, if it weren't for the many, many easter eggs in the film, with the biggest being the fight scene between Ant Man and Falcon, amazing!

"It's really important to me that Cap never finds out about this"

The final two scenes refer to future Marvel movies that I am really looking forward to. In the mid-credits scene, Hank is shown giving Hope a new prototype of her mother's Wasp suit, referencing the next Ant Man film - Ant Man and the Wasp, coming out in 2018, and in the post-credits scene we see Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, (Chris Evans) and Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon, (Anthony Mackie) talking about Bucky's (Sebastian Stan) future, with Wilson possibly talking about Scott Lang when he says "I know a guy" as they ready themselves for the events of Captain America: Civil War. 

A Reel World Rating