‘Ant-Man’ review: Marvel goes ‘safe’ and ‘small’ to set up more films
Critics may load up the headlines with “insect” or “tiny” references to promote their review of Marvel’s latest film, Ant-Man, which is more about sentiment, family and humor than most superhero films.
Paul Rudd stars as Scott Lang, a Robin Hood motivated criminal released from jail and trying to piece his life back together and earn more time with his daughter, who lives with his ex-wife (Judy Greer) and her police officer husband, played by Bobby Cavannale.
In the wake of Avengers, none of that matters to the audience, who focuses on Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) who begins mentoring the rebel to steal and use his shrinking suit to stop the evil corporate thug (his former mentor turned bad, Corey Stoll) from relinquishing the amazing technology into the “wrong hands.”
There is a love interest, Pym’s daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), which never emerges out of the shadow of the Pym family drama except for Marvel’s gratuitous “woman staring at man without shirt on” cliche.
Sadly, Ant-Man doesn’t have an identity. This is Iron Man meets Liar Liar in a “heist film” — a pretty boring heist film.
Director Peyton Reed inherited a mess that dated back to 2006 as Edgar Wright wrote and planned on directing the film. Another comedy writer, Anchorman’s Adam McKay, but Ant-Man never emerges as a comedy either.
The film does a lot of little things right, but never does anything well. Ant-Man is entertaining, despite a slow start, with decent performances. Michael Pena as Luis is a comedic actor with a lot of promise, was the star of the film.
A bizarre action/battle scene with Anthony Mackie’s Falcon was spolied in the trailer and has nothing to do with the overall story.
Stoll’s Yellowjacket becomes nothing more than the expendable villain good for only one story arc. Notice how the Marvel heroes never try to capture the villain, putting him in prison?
The special effects good, but nothing spectacular. Don’t waste the cash for the 3D viewing, it added nothing and I didn’t find the IMAX sound noticably enhancing.
Guardians of the Galaxy was a daring stretch of the comic book film genre, Ant-Man proves that there will still be dull, origin stories squeezed into the Marvel franchise, to set up future films that the audience will care about.
Overall, the Ant-Man receives 3 out of 5 stars
To make matters worse, the mid-credits and after-credits scenes were a major let down. An opportunity for a big reveal was milktoast at best and a Civil War link was just too predictable and uneventful.
