Review of Ant-Man (2015) by Ethan J — 28 Jun 2017

'ANT-MAN' was directed by Peyton Reed, should have been directed by Edgar Wright and stars Paul Rudd, Corey Stroll and Michael Douglas.? Decades ago, Hank Pym(Michael Douglas) made the Pym Particle, a special formula that could shrink a human being to the size of an insect. He kept his research a secret for many years but when his old protégé is closing in on the formula, Pym employs Scott Lang(Paul Rudd), an ex-convict and thief to don his suit and steal the formula from his protégé before it's too late.

Damn. I don't wanna work in Baskin Robins now man... I don't need them seeing my life. Weird product placement(I guess?) aside, Ant- Man is a thoroughly enjoyable addition to the MCU and is a refreshing change of pace from what we're used to. Instead of being a standard Action movie, Ant-Man has evolved into a heist movie and takes the leap perfectly. The heist element(a product of Wright's genius I am sure) made the movie infinitely better than it should have been. I've always liked Paul Rudd, he seems like a nice guy, but I've never truly seen him shine before this movie. He pulls of Lang perfectly and I can definitely see this getting him more roles. Michael Douglas supports Rudd and does his role exceptionally well as Hank Pym. His dry tone and sometimes sarcastic mannerisms made him a perfect mentor for Scott and made him a memorable character. My main complaint is with the villain but I will address that in greater detail further along.

The story for this movie is alright. What makes it entertaining is the heist element and the heist alone. Without the heist, this movie would have been flat and have blurred in with the remained of the MCU for me. One thing I will say has been lacking from many MCU movies is powerful and impactful moments. Not saying they never happened but this movie tried to do some properly. Alas, they failed at this. They make a joke midway through a powerful scene and acknowledging it mid scene doesn't make the fact you ruined a good scene go away, it just puts it to the forefront of most people's minds. Not to say it was a bad joke, I just think they should have left it alone. Straight before or straight after - I don't care. Just don't ruin a scene that was working which I cheap gag for laughs.

As previously stated, Rudd and Douglas do exceptionally well so I won't comment any further. Also stated previously was my dislike of the villain, Darren Cross. Corey did a perfectly passable performance as Cross but where he falters is how one note he is. The character is just a mad, evil genius with no layers or interesting motivations. He was very dull and is this movie's main downfall. I don't know much about the Ant-Man comics but, if he is like this in the comics, they should have chosen another villain that had more meaning. Another weakness of the movie for me was Evangaline Lily as Hope. I didn't buy her performance, her character but most importantly I didn't buy the romance between her and Scott. It just felt unnatural and wasn't earned. They could have made a fun, romantic-comedy esc side-plot and even poked fun at that in the movie but they just go for a bland montage that doesn't effectively convey the character's emotions and feeling. Michael Pena's Luis could have come across as an annoying time waster but didn't. It's very hard to make the comic relief work in a movie and I think Pena did it brilliantly.

This is a technically proficient movie and it looks fine but I bet it would be a technical Marvel if Feige kept his grubby paws of Wright's neck and eventually fired him. The effects for this movie are marvellous. I believe that they used miniatures for major segments in this movie. That is not only inventive but also a very refreshing change in pace from the standard CGI fest. Not to say there is no CGI but when it's used it's used very well.

This movie made me laugh, the heist was interesting, the action was top notch. If I had to poke one other flaw it would be a certain cameo towards the middle which I believe should have been cut from the movie entirely. Aside from these flaws, Ant-Man is a very fun ride and I definitely want to know where these films go. I'll rate it 8 Weird A$$ Looking Dogs out of 10.