My level of skepticism increases with each one of these
comic book movies that come out. The
films have been so successful recently that this has become it’s own
genre. As good as the Marvel movies in
particular have been, I feel like this is something that can’t last. I know one of these films will fall flat
eventually and, as I watched the previews for Ant-Man, I couldn’t help
believing that this would probably be the one.
Dr.
Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) was a scientist who spent his life developing an
armored suit that was capable of shrinking the wearer down to the size of an
ant. Pym intended the technology for
military use, but it was stolen by a group that had other, more sinister plans. Pym decides to recruit convicted cat burglar
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to become the new Ant-Man and get the original suit back
before it is too late.
What I
really liked about this movie was it’s tone.
Contrary to what most comic book movies try to do these days, this film
is pretty light. It is refreshing to see
a movie like this that stays in it’s lane and just tries to be fun. The movie has a great deal of humor that
works very well. Most of the jokes are
provided by Michael Pena, who is just terrific.
This movie was a joy to watch, mainly because it didn’t try to be more
than it should have been.
Obviously
with the whole Ant-Man shrinking thing, visuals are a very big part of this
film. These effects are handled very
well by director Peyton Reed and his crew.
When Ant-Man shrinks, it looks terrifically realistic. A lot is done with these segments that add to
the enjoyment of the film. Regular
things like a bathtub drain and toy trains are made to look menacing and
provide some of my favorite and most enjoyable sequences of the film.
The
original screenplay for this film was written by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the
Dead, Hot Fuzz) and it shows because the foundation of the movie is very well
written. It was also clear to me that
other people have worked on this script since Wright left the project. Overall this screenplay is not bad at
all. The story is as good as it could
possibly be with this type of premise.
The side characters in the film are amazing, which is a typical characteristic
of a great screenplay. I wouldn’t
actually consider this to be a great screenplay, but rather a very good one. There are a few bothersome clichés used. My biggest problem with the movie is the
character of Hope Van Dyne. This
character could have been great and very instrumental to the film but was unfortunately
pretty much just used as PC bait.
All the
acting in the movie is good but the one that really stands out is Paul Rudd. I’m glad that he got this role and did such a
good job with it. The light tone I
mentioned earlier lent itself very well to Rudd’s talents. He has been one of my favorite comedic actors
for years and I’m glad that he has been introduced to the Marvel universe.
This
movie turned out to be a lot better than I was expecting. I had a great deal of fun with it and would
certainly recommend it. The Hope
character got on my nerves but I enjoyed pretty much everything else about the
film. Ant-Man is a success because it is
not afraid to be what it is and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5
stars.
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