Ant-Man (2015) Review

Scott Lang is given a second chance to make something of his life by Dr. Hank Pym, it involves a special suit which will make him shrink in size and use ants as his allies.

Now I will firstly say that I wasn’t sure about this film at all. The whole idea of the shrinking and working with ants just seemed like a little bit too much. The trailers didn’t excite me, so I went to see this one not expecting to like it at all. How happy am I to say that I was very wrong about it? – Actually very happy as that meant I enjoyed the film a lot.

It works.

Honestly it does I am just as surprised as everyone else, just shows that you should never judge a film by its trailer. Although I will admit that anything with Michael Douglas in still excites me, certainly class him as one of my all time favourite actors.

So we are given some back story first as we see Scott being released from prison and really trying his best to create a new life so he can see his daughter Cassie. Now that is a very key relationship and point in the story, which I think gives the film a massive heart. That gives a good motive, especially as Pym has been tracking Scott since his burglary which landed him in prison to begin with. To get him on his side he pretty much teases him to begin with, all builds up well.

We also get to know a little bit about Pym’s past and I have to add that making Michael Douglas look younger worked very well whilst also looking a little creepy. This then linked into the current day and helped show what drives Darren Cross. Throw in Pym’s daughter Hope and we have a good basis for the film. It doesn’t take a massive amount of time to build all of this up so that’s a good thing, it all flows nicely.

I mean let’s face it Ant-Man and the suit does look rather amusing so you cannot help but laugh at times. That’s something Marvel has managed to nail in the universe in recent years. We get plenty of mentions of the Avengers, and one of the best scenes might just include one. Not going to spoil who it is though, but wow. Make sure you stay right after the credits as this film has two extra scenes to watch. But when he shrinks he still has the strength of his human form, you know how some of that is going to look in fight scenes. Impressive would actually be the best word, or even cool.

I thought Michael Douglas was perfect as Pym and really does engage the audience well, you cannot help but listen to him when he’s talking. I know that might sound strange to say about a film, but he just has one of those voices that demand to be listened to. He does have a lot of dialogue as well. Who would have thought that a man learning to speak to and control ants could be so good?

I certainly didn’t that is for sure but it really does have some fantastic scenes and gives us a look into another part of the Marvel world with plenty of different little things mentioned to crossover to the other characters. I actually enjoyed Evangeline Lilly as Hope, I am not usually her biggest fan but thought she fit the character well in the film. I also have to mention Bobby Cannavale who a few years ago I quite liked, but now I just find him extremely annoying. He seems to have become typecast and always an annoying character who is not likeable at all.

Overall though make sure you give this film a try, you may just be pleasantly surprised like I am!