This is the better Marvel Movie. Between this and Age of Ultron, no question Ant-Man is vastly superior.
In a spoiler free quickie it does a fine origin story within the confines of the MCU, this is clearly a Marvel movie and works within the greater scheme of things.
Everyone is well cast in their roles, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in particular does a fine job in the mentor role. Evangeline Lily gets to kick ass, Paul Rudd has got the right amount of disbelief and Corey Stoll is just this side of annoying.
Oh and I doubt you need to see this one 3D, I did but it happened to be the earliest showing. Also the kids in the movie theatre were thankfully well behaved. But literally only me and TWO OTHER PEOPLE STAYED THRU TO THE 2ND ENDING.
One more thing before the cut, the Ant-Man helmet still looks like an NCR Ranger Helmet.
*SPOILERS BELOW*
This movie is all about father figures. Hank Pym and Scott Lang. Hank has to deal with an out-of-control former protégé in Darren Cross, mend a relationship with his daughter when neither one is really able to move forward, and his new “disposable” last hope Scott Lang, which both Cross and Hope (really Cross and Hope to Die?) take serious offence to. Then of course Scott has his own daughter, who still sees him as a hero, before he ever dons the suit.
The intro gives us some nice background into pre-Iron Man SHIELD circa 1989 with Howard Stark (this is what a couple of years before his “accident”) and Peggy Carter, both of whom look pretty good for being in their 60s and 70s.
The Baskin Robbins jokes work fairly well, this along with Luis, Kurt and Dave give a feel of the Edgar Wright story. Especially Luis’ stories. Peyton Reed threads the line of caricature with those three but usually seems to know when to pull back.
Is it me or does Falcon seem to have more screentime here than AoU? maybe it’s just because his scene is so much more prominent here and he doesn’t have to battle everyone for attention. “he can’t see me.” “I can see you.” that was an awesome scene.
If the movie has a failing tho, it’s that it’s a pretty paint-by-numbers plot. get the suit, montage, setback, last-ditch attempt, fight, personal hostage, do the thing that you’re never-ever-supposed to do, save the day.
But even with that, it doesn’t bring the movie down, the love interest is toned down to the bare minimum and isn’t belabored (in fact it could just be physical for now, if even that).
Ther’s a lot of good too, the tank, the tank engine, ANThony, Crazy Ants (I didn’t know it was possibly to make ants cute, aside from the late 90s obession with them), Falcon.
The movie also ties in nicely with Agents of SHIELD, now we know that Grant is busy rebuilding his HYDRA and looking for tech.
What about the FX? *shrug* they’re fine but honestly I was getting a headache either from the poor 3D or the uneven sound in the theatre.
The final scene. I’ve already seen it here but a little context does help. I can’t wait for Civil War.
