Ant-Man

Big things come in small packages. A cheesy line, but it certainly describes Marvel’s Ant-Man. We’ve known Ant-Man was on the horizon for perhaps as long as we’ve known of the Iron Man films, and yet it took until 2015 for the incredible shrinking Ant-Man to be released (and a further four years for me to ACTUALLY see the film). I’d be lying if I said that Ant-Man’s productions woes, be it delayed filming windows to multiple directors swapping in and out, had me worried about the quality of the film because frankly I didn't care... about the film, the plot or the announced cast. But, for some reason, I found myself sat on the couch ready to watch Ant-Man. So - could something that’s languished in development hell and been passed through many hands come out on the other side successful? The short answer is yes. Of course it did! It's Marvel for god-sake. For the most part Ant-Man succeeds in being funny, heartfelt, action packed and most importantly entertaining.

As Marvel has done in movies past Ant-Man is a super hero film wrapped in the trappings of another genre. The genre of choice this time is a heist film. We’re introduced to Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, a recently released thief, who’s chosen by enigmatic Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his appropriately prickly daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) to steal Pym’s former business partner and protégé’s shrinking suit and formula before it can be used for evil. Sounds pretty par for the course, because it ultimately is. Marvel has never really broken new ground when it comes to its plotting, but it’s never needed to. We’re given familiar story elements with a fresh coat of paint, and what a coat of paint it is. Like Marvel’s previous films this movie is packed with wit. It’s a very funny film. At times the humour undercuts the serious elements, or rather the serious elements undercut the humour. It’s difficult to say. The audience is told very early on not to take the film and its happenings too seriously and everything is done with a wink and a nudge. Whenever the film tries to get weighty and bring us a serious dramatic beat we’re left waiting impatiently for the next one-liner. Still, those moments are few and far between and the film is paced well enough that I was never bored.

Ant-Man has a curious power. The Ant-Man suit, powered by Pym Particles, allows the user to shrink down to the size of an Ant. We’ve never seen anything like this from the likes of a super hero movie which is refreshing mid-Avengers campaign. The fight scenes are exciting to watch as Ant-Man switches between big and small so effortlessly that you wonder if anyone could stand a chance against such a nimble and difficult to strike target. Ant-Man even gets the opportunity to fight an Avenger in this film which was a prelude to his appearance in Captain America: Civil War (which I had seen already). Ultimately Ant-Man is just another superhero movie but the way it’s presented is such a breath of fresh air that I decided to watch the movie's sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp shortly after this film finished.

We’ve come to expect quality with Marvel and Ant-Man is right in their sweet spot of humour, action and sympathetic characters. It’s not the best film Marvel has produced, but it’s still a film I am glad not to have missed, I just wish I had realised this sooner and seen it on the big screen.