Ant-Man - directed by Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, Bobby Cannavale, T.I, Abby Ryder Fortson, Judy Greer, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Hayley Atwell, Martin Donovan, David Dastmalchian
Running Time: 117 minutes
Rated: PG - a few instance of mild profanity and low level violence.
Marvel Studios currently has an enviable problem I would imagine.
Pressure to deliver with each new movie due to the impressive string of quality flicks that they have turned out over the last decade or so.
From Iron-Man to The Avengers to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy they have proved that they know how to not only start a franchise but continue in style and often with ever improving quality.
Iron-Man has had three movies, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers two and there is only one disappointment in there.
Even so Iron-Man 2 is still decent.
Then there is Guardians of the Galaxy.
A risky project that few outside of hardcore comic fans knew of this fresh franchise stood aside from the normal Marvel movie.
The tone was lighter - the characters goofier, more fantasy than reality and of course space-bound.
The risk paid off in glorious fashion with huge box office receipts and universal love from critics and fans alike.
Now we have another property of the same ilk.... little known and a bit different.
And then there is the elephant in the room - the rough ride that it had in production with writer-director Edgar Wright exiting the movie just before shooting was to begin.
Honestly- the best thing to do when you walk into a screening of "Ant-Man" is forget about the troubles - about Wright leaving - about what movie there could have been.
The reality is that we have the movie that we have and in truth it is pretty damned good.
Director Peyton Reed ("Down With Love", "The Break-Up", "Yes Man") is adept at humour and is usually a steady hand when it comes to tone.
(I say 'usually' because The Break-Up suffers from some unevenness)
With Ant-Man he is bang on target delivering a light, funny and fun movie that while not as impossibly endearing as "Guardians of the Galaxy" or as instantly riveting as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" nonetheless finds a niche within the Marvel universe that doesn't feel out of place even as it carves its own unique path.
Casting Paul Rudd in the lead superhero role is the tip off of course.
Rudd has turned out a raft of excellent comedic performances over the years.
There are the bigger names like the Anchorman movies, "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" but for me it is his work in the underrated "Our Idiot Brother" (refer here) that revealed the depth that he is often denied in his roles.
With "Ant-Man" there is more for him to do than deliver the laughs (which of course he does with great aplomb)
This being a Marvel flick he is required to meet the physical demands you would expect and female viewers will no doubt appreciate his time in the gym for this role.
He pulls off the action sequences very well.
For the most part this involves Ant-Man shrinking down to his namesakes size and navigating keyholes, server rooms, drain pipes and in one scene the new home of a certain big name hero group.
Yep- the ties to the rest of the Marvel movies are most definitely there with more than one cameo from a familiar face.
(stay at the end for two credit sequences both of which are well worth sticking around for)
This connection to the other Marvel properties seems to be the main focus too.
Ant-Man will feature in the upcoming "Captain America: The Civil War" and this movie spends a fair bit of time connecting the two properties together both in the past and for the future.
Apart from the laughs of which there are many the most impressive aspect of Ant-Man for me is how well it does bind the films together whilst retaining its own personality.
Michael Pena contributes greatly to this and time and time again pulls off the difficult task of stealing scenes from Paul Rudd who is no stranger in that area himself.
His goofy, somewhat dense criminal associate to Rudd's Scott Lang is a hoot.
Likewise young Abby Ryder Fortson delivers a cute, likable daughter for Scott who is never annoying and often delightful.
Michael Douglas deserves a lot of praise also and this for me might be his best performance in some time.
I am totally biased when it comes to Evangeline Lilly so I will just say that she is great as aways but Corey Stoll of whom I am also a huge fan is left with nothing to do as the villain of the piece.
The role of Darren Cross / Yellowsuit is horribly underwritten.
There is mention of his mind being affected by the experimentation but no such concern is expressed for Scott who has been similarly exposed.
The results of this alleged affect come largely out of the blue with only the briefest hint about an hour earlier that it was a 'thing'.
The role demands more depth or at least more backstory.
Stoll's Darren Cross is a cardboard cutout villain and he deserves better.
The only real criticism that I can level at Ant-Man otherwise is that it lacks ambition.
It might be a result of one of the aspects that I have praised it for - the clever linking to the other Marvel movies bot past and upcoming- but it is lacking in scope or even stakes.
There are some Hydra guys in it and they appear to be about to raise the stakes but they disappear very quickly.
There is no looming end of the world and there isn't even too much to trouble Ant-Man truth be told and the movie suffers for this lack of a compelling threat.
It isn't aiming for Avengers level end of the world stuff and nor should it but it is still lacking and this combined with the lightness of tone and constant humour do make it oddly anemic.
The laughs, some interesting action sequences by virtue of Ant-Mans shrinking and ant buddies and the appeal of Rudd, Lilly and specially Pena pull it through.
And whatever Marvel paid for the rights to use Thomas the Tank Engine it was money well spent - it pays off in gloriously goofy fashion.
Its shortcomings (a lack of a compelling villain, a lack of stakes and no killer action sequence) are compensated for with an abundance of funny moments, a genuinely fun tone and that cast appeal.
It is hard to imagine that "Ant-Man" will take off in the manner of "Guardians of the Galaxy" but it is solid stuff and hard not to like.
And I do- quite a lot.
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: This is a fun flick with a good number of laughs. If it seems too light and maybe a little slight worry not - this is just a starter and there is more to come. And as such that makes Ant-Man a good, solid platform.
Running Time: 117 minutes
Rated: PG - a few instance of mild profanity and low level violence.
Marvel Studios currently has an enviable problem I would imagine.
Pressure to deliver with each new movie due to the impressive string of quality flicks that they have turned out over the last decade or so.
From Iron-Man to The Avengers to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy they have proved that they know how to not only start a franchise but continue in style and often with ever improving quality.
Iron-Man has had three movies, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers two and there is only one disappointment in there.
Even so Iron-Man 2 is still decent.
Then there is Guardians of the Galaxy.
A risky project that few outside of hardcore comic fans knew of this fresh franchise stood aside from the normal Marvel movie.
The tone was lighter - the characters goofier, more fantasy than reality and of course space-bound.
The risk paid off in glorious fashion with huge box office receipts and universal love from critics and fans alike.
Now we have another property of the same ilk.... little known and a bit different.
And then there is the elephant in the room - the rough ride that it had in production with writer-director Edgar Wright exiting the movie just before shooting was to begin.
Honestly- the best thing to do when you walk into a screening of "Ant-Man" is forget about the troubles - about Wright leaving - about what movie there could have been.
The reality is that we have the movie that we have and in truth it is pretty damned good.
Director Peyton Reed ("Down With Love", "The Break-Up", "Yes Man") is adept at humour and is usually a steady hand when it comes to tone.
(I say 'usually' because The Break-Up suffers from some unevenness)
With Ant-Man he is bang on target delivering a light, funny and fun movie that while not as impossibly endearing as "Guardians of the Galaxy" or as instantly riveting as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" nonetheless finds a niche within the Marvel universe that doesn't feel out of place even as it carves its own unique path.
Casting Paul Rudd in the lead superhero role is the tip off of course.
Rudd has turned out a raft of excellent comedic performances over the years.
There are the bigger names like the Anchorman movies, "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" but for me it is his work in the underrated "Our Idiot Brother" (refer here) that revealed the depth that he is often denied in his roles.
With "Ant-Man" there is more for him to do than deliver the laughs (which of course he does with great aplomb)
This being a Marvel flick he is required to meet the physical demands you would expect and female viewers will no doubt appreciate his time in the gym for this role.
He pulls off the action sequences very well.
For the most part this involves Ant-Man shrinking down to his namesakes size and navigating keyholes, server rooms, drain pipes and in one scene the new home of a certain big name hero group.
Yep- the ties to the rest of the Marvel movies are most definitely there with more than one cameo from a familiar face.
(stay at the end for two credit sequences both of which are well worth sticking around for)
 |
| Paul Rudd is great as Scott Lang / Ant-Man |
Ant-Man will feature in the upcoming "Captain America: The Civil War" and this movie spends a fair bit of time connecting the two properties together both in the past and for the future.
Apart from the laughs of which there are many the most impressive aspect of Ant-Man for me is how well it does bind the films together whilst retaining its own personality.
Michael Pena contributes greatly to this and time and time again pulls off the difficult task of stealing scenes from Paul Rudd who is no stranger in that area himself.
His goofy, somewhat dense criminal associate to Rudd's Scott Lang is a hoot.
Likewise young Abby Ryder Fortson delivers a cute, likable daughter for Scott who is never annoying and often delightful.
Michael Douglas deserves a lot of praise also and this for me might be his best performance in some time.
I am totally biased when it comes to Evangeline Lilly so I will just say that she is great as aways but Corey Stoll of whom I am also a huge fan is left with nothing to do as the villain of the piece.
The role of Darren Cross / Yellowsuit is horribly underwritten.
There is mention of his mind being affected by the experimentation but no such concern is expressed for Scott who has been similarly exposed.
The results of this alleged affect come largely out of the blue with only the briefest hint about an hour earlier that it was a 'thing'.
The role demands more depth or at least more backstory.
Stoll's Darren Cross is a cardboard cutout villain and he deserves better.
 |
| Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and a great turn from Michael Pena are highlights but the great Corey Stoll is wasted |
It might be a result of one of the aspects that I have praised it for - the clever linking to the other Marvel movies bot past and upcoming- but it is lacking in scope or even stakes.
There are some Hydra guys in it and they appear to be about to raise the stakes but they disappear very quickly.
There is no looming end of the world and there isn't even too much to trouble Ant-Man truth be told and the movie suffers for this lack of a compelling threat.
It isn't aiming for Avengers level end of the world stuff and nor should it but it is still lacking and this combined with the lightness of tone and constant humour do make it oddly anemic.
The laughs, some interesting action sequences by virtue of Ant-Mans shrinking and ant buddies and the appeal of Rudd, Lilly and specially Pena pull it through.
And whatever Marvel paid for the rights to use Thomas the Tank Engine it was money well spent - it pays off in gloriously goofy fashion.
Its shortcomings (a lack of a compelling villain, a lack of stakes and no killer action sequence) are compensated for with an abundance of funny moments, a genuinely fun tone and that cast appeal.
It is hard to imagine that "Ant-Man" will take off in the manner of "Guardians of the Galaxy" but it is solid stuff and hard not to like.
And I do- quite a lot.
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