I begin this review with a confession. As I passed through the swinging heavy doors of the cinema, I sat down thinking that what I was about to watch was a farce. A movie being forced and heaped upon by our Marvel overlords for the sake of gaining a quick buck. Thankfully, I was proven wrong. Ant-man is a superhero film that, unlike its similarly themed siblings, is full of heart, less drama, and more about entertainment.
“Between me and Channing Tatum, who would you watch?”
Without spoiling much, Ant-man stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man. “Whoah! Wait! My ant-man senses tell me that the comics were about a man named Hank Pym a.k.a. ‘THE REAL ANT-MAN!”. Well, put down your antennae-shaped pitchforks as the film covers the modern take on the hero with the fabled Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) on a retirement plan. Anyway, Scott Lang just came out of prison and is struggling with real-world concerns such as employment. Finding no other way to sustain himself and his family he again goes back to what he’s good at: burglary. With a string of weirdness and microscopic leaps in logic, Scott Lang managed to steal the Ant-Man suit, thus his adventure as the new pea-sized (even less) hero, begins!
Surprisingly, Ant-Man is a movie with ants
Helping the new Ant-Man in his adventures are fellows like Hope (Evangeline Lilly), Hank Pym’s estranged daughter, and the Hispanic guy, Luis (Michael Peña).
Ant-Man makes incredible use of imagery. To a guy as small as an ant, the view is impeccably both weird and different. And they managed to capture this sheer awe in everything being super-sized, carefully transitioning between the ant and man’s eye view.
Throughout the whole film, me and my buddy were laughing out our guts due to the great use of cinematography and the overall adorable delivery of lines. The laughs were honest ones, mind you. It was that funny and how the film imposes the differences in the magnitude of events due to their sizes and perspectives are exhilarating at best. Luis’ lines are definitely one to look out for.
The ending is unlike any steroid/adrenaline/nitrogen-filled climaxes that are often found in recent superhero movies. It was fantastic, but not in a way that left a smoldering city and countless of lives dead behind the set. It was well and good, funny and satisfying. I won’t spoil it much, but do expect this little guy to hit your faces hard:
“IT’S THOMAS THE PAIIIINNN TTTRAAAIINNN!!”
Conclusion
Overall, Ant-Man is a film that delivered and surprised. It was much like Guardians of the Galaxy whereby a good lot of people expected it to fail. Thankfully, they (and I) were proven wrong. It is a well-paced film with the story naturally flowing and unforced, generously peppered with humor and action.
“It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” – Batman
It’s not perfect, though. Ant-man suffers from twists in logic. Yes, I get it. It is a superhero movie. But kindly explain how X object appears at the right time and at the right place given that there are a large number of random variables. You’ll get my point once you see the first part of the film.
What sets Ant-man apart from other well-do comic heroes is that he is motivated by something other than the same old “Save the World” creed. This is a superhero film that concentrates more on the personality of a superhero without the nifty vainglory or superiority complex that comes with it.
With that, I do recommend that you guys add Ant-Man to your must see films of the week / month. It’s a good build-up for the upcoming several Marvel films and Ant-Man’s backstory is a pretty good tale on its own.
A representation of you and your friends running to the nearest theater to watch this film.
Oh, and please do stay after the credits. The film has two post-credits scenes.
Ant-Man Movie Review Ant-Man Movie Review Ant-Man Movie Review Ant-Man Movie Review
