Ant-Man Review

Ant-Man has finally released after many years of issues in getting the whole project though here we finally are. Starring Paul Rudd with an outstanding secondary cast we follow the origin story for the Ant-Man. This is of course the first Marvel origin story that we've had in a long time and of course the ending to the second phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

For those unfamiliar with Ant-Man, he's an individual with a suit that lets him shrink into the size of an ant. Ants are also his ally since he controls them with pheromones and the creatures were rather charming themselves within the film.

One of my biggest worries going into this film was that it wouldn't be able to connect properly to the current universe and that they'd brush over the original Hank Pym since Rudd is playing Scott Lang in this version. I was more than happy that they actually made Rudd become the second Ant-Man within the canon and they handled it perfectly.

Of course being a part of the Marvel universe at this point in time leads to a number of cross over events and mentions, there was a particularly great part of the film where Ant-Man takes on an Avenger which was hilarious. Of course at its heart as with many other properties of the universe there are comedic aspects.

This film even more so since comedy was a focus in this heist styled filmed. The whole point of collecting Scott to join the team is so that he can break into a place and steal some stuff. It comes down to that and the rest of the time is built around him preparing. It's almost like the older super hero films where you takes rounds of practice until he can handle the suit properly.

Aside from comedic points and the heist we were also of course given some dramatic moments that were built around parallel story dynamics. Half of this was Scott having a young daughter dealing with him being in jail and Hank Pym with his daughter Hope which have a distance to them. Both of these are never ventured into that much since we all know these sort of plots by now and even when they moments like this an odd joke would come in to ruin them. I'm all for laughs though sometimes in the movie they did feel out of place.

When it comes down to it I know this film will get a bunch of flack since it'll be heavily compared to other super hero films and that just isn't fair. It does everything it can do to be a complete stand-a-lone film even creating a history of distrust with Shield. I loved the various mentions of other future films as well which is always something hidden to look into and I'm even more excited to see how he will come into play during Civil War.

Aside from the main characters there was also a lot of focus on the ants themselves which each seemed to bring a special emotion to them. Despite being so many in number and variety they each seemed unique within the crowd. The effects and changes while in combat were perfectly done with some really exciting shots going on. It's crazy to see the change in scale when Ant-Man would get ant sized. I also liked how the villain Yellowjacket actually had a deeper story than usual and real motive in his battle against the heroes.

The Conclusion

I had a great time watching Ant-Man and I really hope this film doesn't get over shadowed by other releases of the super hero genre since that just isn't fair. It's a deep part of Marvel lore and he's an important player in the bigger universe and can't wait to see how fits in along the other characters.

I'd love to see this story get branched out further with sequels as they've teased so much towards the ending and it's exciting. Ant-Man is a really enjoyable heist movie that stands well enough on its own against many other films.

Ant-Man Review at Theater with Dolby Atmos

Rating Overall: 8.4