Marvel has been dominating the box office with their superhero flicks for almost a decade now and it’s inevitable that they’re going to bring out some of the lesser-known superheroes to the big screen. Even though it’s not well known to non comic book readers, Ant-Man movie has apparently been in development for many years. For anyone who’s been following the movie business, you’ve probably read the development dramas of this movie, from director Edgar Wright leaving the project to script changes and so on.
Personally I didn’t know anything about Ant-Man, the idea of a superhero the size of an ant just sounds too silly to me and didn’t really care about the movie version. Fortunately, the movie was very entertaining and I don’t mind seeing it again. 
After being released from prison, Scott Lang (perfectly-cast Paul Rudd) is trying to go straight because he wants to spend more time with his daughter. Lang was sent to prison because he tried to do the right thing, but in life doing the right thing doesn’t mean you’re going to be appreciated. He met up with is buddy Luis (Michael Peña) who tells him that he’d found a new gig that will make them a lot of money. Lang declined the offer because he wants to find an honest job but because he’s an ex-con no one will hire him. So after couldn’t find a steady job, Lang finally agreed to listen to Luis’ gig. According to Luis’ sources, there’s a house that belongs to a retired old man who’d stashed away some valuable items in his safe. All Lang has to do is break in and take whatever is in the safe and they’ll be rich.
Unfortunately when Lang got into the safe, all he could find was a weird looking suit, which he took. The suit and the house belongs to a man named Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Pym has been following Lang for years because of his skills as a thief. He and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) are trying to break into a highly secured building and they need Lang’s help. Unlike other Marvel’s superhero flicks, the scope of this film was quite small and the whole plot is actually a heist rather than a full-blown superhero story we’re use to seeing. We still get to see the usual hero learning to control his new power and so on. But the tone of this film was definitely on humor and lighter side and I’m glad they went that route.
All the performances by the actors were great, I mentioned that Rudd was perfectly cast and he truly embody this character. He’s charming, quick witted and you want to see him succeed. Instead of the usual hero whose motivation to save the world was because he lost something important to him, here Lang is just a guy who wants to do the right thing and see his daughter. Douglas was also great as Pym, he has the same amount of screen time as Rudd, I didn’t want to talk too much about his character because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who wants to see this film.
Lilly played the tough female lead and I thought she did a good job; I’m so glad the filmmakers didn’t make her into another damsel in distress type. Of course in this kind of movie, there’s always going to be the token minority/comic relief character and here I thought Michael Peña was very funny. Some of the jokes didn’t work but most of them had the audience laughing. The villain in the film is played by Corey Stoll, even though they tried to give him some motivations as to why he’s evil, he’s still a one dimensional bad guy.
This is still a Marvel comic book film so they need to show us some big action sequences and director Peyton Reed delivered on that end. I was surprised because his background is mostly in comedy but I thought he did a great job of staging the cool and kind of inventive action sequences. If you’re on the fence about seeing this film in 3D, I highly you seek it out in that format. Once Lang became the Ant-Man, the film showed some really eye-popping 3D effects.
I didn’t really have any expectations for this film and I’m glad I saw it because it’s very entertaining and a lot of fun. In fact, I think this maybe the only comic book film from Marvel that the whole family can enjoy. Color me impressed.
So have you seen Ant Man? Well, what did you think?
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Agreed, Ted. Surprised how much I enjoyed it.
Yeah, I didn’t really think it’s going to be that entertaining but I’m glad I saw it and will probably see it again at a theater or buy the Bluray disc.
If it’s on TV, I’ll see it. I’m just pained by the fact that it could’ve been something else under Edgar Wright’s direction.
I’m curious to know what kind of film it could’ve have been had Wright stayed on as a director/writer. I read somewhere that he left mostly because Marvel didn’t like his idea of having an ant becoming a man. Maybe years from now, someone will leak his script.
great post, I’m surprised that this garned such a reaction from you Ted! personally, I just can’t bring myself to see this, superhero movies are already starting to feel overdone for me and the premise of this just seems too ridiculous! I’m glad that you found enjoyment from it though.
Thanks Jordan.
Yeah this genre is starting to run out of gas, I think. But as long as people still pays to see them, studios will keep churning out one after another. Thankfully this one was refreshing because it didn’t take itself too seriously and it’s more of a comedy than a full blown superhero flick.
Hmmm those last two qualities interest me…. a superhero movie that doesn’t take itself seriously? Something not involving the audience?….. hmmm. colour me interested!!
It’ll come out end of this week over here I think, so I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
Ted… I’m with ninvoid99 about Edgar Wright and Joss Whedon’s recommendation that the original script was the best of the Marvel movies out there. As I still haven’t seen The Avengers movie yet I’ll probably wait on this one. Although I do love me some Paul Rudd. The running joke he has with Conan never fails to make me laugh.
Hey Dave, I’m very curious that original script too. Like I mentioned above, I read somewhere that Wright left the project because he wanted the story to be about an becoming a man and not the other way around. Since I don’t watch Conan that often, I didn’t see his jokes on there, thanks for the clip!
Just getting back from vacation means we had a lot of movies to catch up on but this one was a priority for Sean, but one I ended up enjoying as well. I mean, I adore Paul Rudd and was willing to give it a chance just for him, but actually this was a superhero movie that didn’t quite know it was a superhero movie. I like that it kept the scope relatively small. I wasn’t crazy about Lilly though, I thought she was kind of drab and listless.
Yeah, Ant-Man reminded me of the pre-super serious action/superhero flicks from the 80s and 90s, too many action/super hero films tends to take themselves way too seriously these days. It’s fun and didn’t feel like a superhero flick.
I read online that apparently on the set of Suicide Squad, they have therapist on hand because the actors needed a shrink to handle super serious tone of the film. I wanted to puke when I read that and of course I don’t want to see the film either. Sometimes these actors and filmmakers needs to understand that making a freaking comic book movie and not real life!
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Great review! I thought this started off quite slow but once the action kicked in, it was brilliant. The comedy was spot on as well, Michael Pena really had me laughing 🙂
– Allie
Thanks Allie, I didn’t mind the slow start because I thought many of the scenes were fun to watch. But yeah once the action kicks in, it really was a fun ride.
Yeah, I’m also glad they went with the lighter, comedic tone. Honestly, I think that is why these Marvel Films are so successful. They have found that tonal sweet spot.
Yeah, I’m getting tire of the super serious comic book movies lately. It would not have worked had they decided to go with a serious tone for this film.
Strong work Ted. There will be a good number of people who will hope this sinks because of the whole thing Wright walking away from the project thing. However, the trailer showed promise and I’m glad it delivers.
You know I’m not the biggest fan of Wright so I didn’t really care that he left this movie. From what I read, his story was going to be about an ant becoming a man and he didn’t want the character to be connected to Marvel’s other films. But of course Marvel has built a cash cow so they need to connect every movies they made together. Thankfully this one turned out to be very good.
Interesting review, Ted. Like you I know absolutely nothing about Ant Man so will be watching it (probably when it comes out on DVD) with no expectations. It will no doubt be one of the lowest performing Marvel films but it’s great that they’re giving screen time to the ‘little league’ characters too.
Hi Claire, yeah I recommend lower your expectations and you’ll enjoy this film. Like I said, the idea of a superhero the size of an ant sounds too silly but thankfully Marvel delivered this one.
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