Ant-Man: Review
Forced out of his own company by former protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) recruits the talents of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a master thief just released from prison. Lang becomes Ant-Man, trained by Pym and armed with a suit that allows him to shrink in size, possess superhuman strength and control an army of ants. The miniature hero must use his new skills to prevent Cross, also known as Yellowjacket, from perfecting the same technology and using it as a weapon for evil.
Ant-Man is a movie that I’m still in disbelief is out even after I’ve seen it. I never thought that day would come that it would be released and now finally it has. I’ve had very high hopes for this film since it was announced way back in the day and have stuck with it despite all it’s trouble getting off the ground. This film isn’t like your typical Marvel movie. If you’re looking for a big “Beat Em Up” kind of movie with non stop action then you might be disappointed but instead what we get is a smart heist film with deep connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I liked the fact that they did an origin story in a way but not in the traditional sense because Ant-Man was a persona that was already established and it was just someone else taking up the mantle. Yes they did have to establish a bit of a back story on Rudd’s Scott Lang but they didn’t really dwell on it too much. The choice of Ant-Man being Scott Lang does make sense in the end because of his road to redemption and let’s face it, who doesn’t like a tale of redemption. On the other hand I don’t think that Pym’s domestic violence moment and mental instability would go over well in the MCU (although they did kind of hint at it here and there). Rudd was the perfect choice to play Ant-Man in my opinion. He’s versatile and has performed in every genre flawlessly. In recent years he’s done a lot more comedic roles so people that haven’t followed his career may be a bit confused but this film shows that he can even excel in the action/superhero genre. Stoll was fantastic as well as the villain of the film. I’m a House Of Cards fan so I knew what he was capable of as an actor and he did not disappoint one bit. It did take the character a while to actually throw on the Yellowjacket suit but damn was that suit sweet. I’m going to go on a limb and say that it may look better than the Ant-Man suit right now (because I’m sure we’ll see an upgrade by the time Captain America: Civil War comes out). My only complaint was that there was a little too many jokes. I don’t mind humor in superhero movies at all but when there’s too many it hurts the pace of the film. Thankfully it didn’t go overboard with them. The film itself takes a bit to get started and could cause the casual moviegoer to get disinterested but for you hardcore fans you’ll definitely enjoy the change of pace that it brings. It reminds me a lot of the first Iron Man film in the sense that there is plenty of “trial and error” going on with Scott Lang and him getting used to his new suit but it picks up tremendously in the third act and will have your eyes glued to the screen. Unlike Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man doesn’t disappoint in the Post Credits area. We get two scenes that set up the future of the franchise as well as the future of the MCU which is really exciting to see. This is a Marvel movie that no one ever expected to see and is a great addition to the genre so go see this movie if you haven’t already because you might just miss out on another superhero gem. 9/10
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[…] I reviewed the film earlier this year. If you’d like to read what I thought about it then you can do that HERE. […]