Phase 2 has come to an end, and hasn't done so during a large scale explosion extravaganza, rather during a knowingly small scale heist film surrounding one of the Avenger's founding members in the comics.
Ant Man is directed by Peyton Reed and is the 12th instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the final film of its successful second phase. The film follows ex-con Scott Lang who is recruited by former superhero Hank Pym to become the new "Ant Man", a soldier who wears a suit with extraordinary capabilities of shrinking down to the size of an insect. Lang is trained by Pym and Pym's daughter Hope van Dyne in how to utilise the suit so they can pull off a daring heist to save the world. Pym's company Pym Technologies has been taken over by Pym's protégé Darren Cross, who wishes to release to the world the Yellowjacket suit. Pym, fearful of this technology falling into the wrong hands, coordinates this heist in an effort to stop him.
Before I continue with my review, I'd like to link you to an article I wrote last summer. It's titled "5 reasons why Ant-Man could suck" and was written during the film's troubled pre production. I must extend an apology to Ant-Man as my initial pessimism turned out to be completely unwarranted:
Link to the article - http://movieswithmattharrison.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/5-reasons-why-ant-man-could-suck.html
Ant Man isn't just a heist movie set in Marvel's interconnected movie universe, but also acts as a "passing on the torch" film whereby former superhero Hank Pym is passing on the suit he wore for years and years onto a younger man. The movie, much like during its marketing campaign, excels when it acknowledges its small size. In comparison to Age of Ultron whereby an AI tried to wipe out humanity, Ant Man is exceptionally small in scale. This film suggests that sometimes in order to solve problems you need a little guy to do it. Sometimes, the Avengers can't always do the job. If you're a fan of the MCU like I am, you'll also appreciate the many references the film slips in there, some more obvious than others. Ant Man slips into the MCU seamlessly and is a very welcome addition.
Like the other Phase 2 movies, Ant Man is consistently funny throughout its 117 minute run time with laughs evenly spaced out. There was never really a moment where I was gut busting, but every moment I should've been laughing I was. A lot of the humour I think transmits from the acting performances given by the main cast, but I have to admit that the single funniest person on screen was Michael Pena, who played Luis. Talk about comedic timing and line delivery, his execution was spot on.
The opening half an hour of the film for me structurally was kind of choppy. The film had to give you a lot of background information before the Ant Man stuff really started to happen, which makes sense considering how this is a whole new area the MCU hasn't touched upon yet. For me, the film wasn't really that captivating from the very start. However, as soon as you see the Ant Man suit for the first time the film really kicks into gear.
Paul Rudd completely knocks it out of the park as our main hero Scott Lang. I loved his comedic timing, he was likeable and relatable due to the relationship he had with his daughter and as the film progressed, you really felt as if he was earning the hero label. As his training with Hank and Hope continues and he begins to master how to effectively utilise the Pym particle technology, you feel as if he has really worked hard for it.
Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly were both equally great as Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne respectively. Their characters I thought gave the film some good character depth and emotional resonance. Hank obviously feels guilt and remorse concerning the death of his wife and Hope's mother Janet, and Hope feels distant from her father who would never tell her the truth of her mother's demise. Despite the fact that Scott Lang's relationship with his daughter was the main focus of human relationships and interaction within the film, the relationship between Hank and Hope was played out masterfully. I give credit to both Douglas and Lilly for making that happen.
The action sequences all play out really well. The musical score is good and the CGI is always convincing. I never felt as if the ants were computer generated, they all looked real to me. Ant Man really succeeds during these action sequences which are a tonne of fun. To see Ant Man jump at someone, shrink down to size, dodge a bullet, crawl up a gun, toss a guy over his neck with his tie before turning to normal size is undoubtedly cool. But I was a big fan of the filmmaking techniques the utilised when Scott shrank down. The camera would blur out the background and sharply focus on Ant Man, which made the effect of shrinking down to the size of an insect a really cool and entertaining thing to watch occur on screen.
In terms of issues I have with the film along with its rocky start, I think at Peyton Reed's direction could have been more personalised and less safe. It is by far Marvel's most conventional movie so far. I just wish Reed would've added more of his own personal style to the way Ant Man was directed. I still think Reed did a good job with the film and he deserves a lot of credit, but his name won't be put up next to Joss Whedon, James Gunn, Jon Favreau or the Russo brothers.
My biggest complaint though is the character of Darren Cross, played by Corey Stoll. I feel like at times Stoll was guilty of over acting a tiny bit. Also, as a villain Cross (who later wears the Yellowjacket suit) was a generic evil guy who wanted generic things like money. They do try and give him a small back story as well as a small explanation as to why he may be turning crazy, but I didn't buy into it at all. He was functional in the action sequences, but had no charisma and wasn't all that menacing.
Considering how worried I was with this film this time a year ago, I have to say that Ant Man has proved me wrong and will turn out to be another success for Marvel Studios. Its the most formulaic Marvel film to date, but if the formula works and I had fun with the film then why change it? I had lots of fun watching Ant Man, and I think its worth seeing in theatres.
Rating - B
I will be doing a spoiler review for Ant Man after this one posts so please look out for that. Also, stick around for 2 scenes; one during the credits and one afterwards. And please listen very carefully just before the credits start to role for an awesome Easter egg you will definitely appreciate.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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