Full disclosure: I have had the biggest crush on Paul Rudd ever since his Josh days in Clueless. Anything that he churns out, I make the conscious effort to like (even the somewhat offensive ones). So yeah, this’ll be biased.

I’ve read a couple of articles online saying that this movie took a long time to be produced and that Edgar Wright (whose short but brilliant filmography includes the Cornetto Trilogy and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) took on developing most of the creative aspects by himself. Rumors had it that Wright intended for the ­Ant-Man movie to be a stand-alone film, which of course wasn’t possible because hello, Disney and Marvel. In the end Wright so he left the project because of “creative differences” just before filming began, a fact that a lot of nerds lamented over. The studio tried to assuage them by saying the new director Peyton Reed (Yes Man) would be working with most of Wright’s original screenplay. Did it work? Here’s the round-up:

Please note that there may be spoilers.  Read at your own risk.

THE STORY:

Fresh out of prison for the modern version of a Robin Hood act, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd – I Love You, Man) finds out the hard way that the job market is a little bit more than unwilling to hire ex-cons. When fellow inmate Luis (Michael Pena – American Hustle) offers him to be part of an easy job, Scott tries to resist. But when his ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and her policeman boyfriend Paxton (Bobby Cannavale – Chef) threaten to limit his visitation rights to see his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson – Togetherness), he finds himself saying yes. After all, he is a cat burglar and what’s the harm in getting in and out of an unmanned house to break into a vault? Scott manages to get through all the security traps but is surprised to find only an old suit inside. Unbeknownst to him, the whole burglary was nothing more but his audition for Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas – Basic Instinct) who is in need of a his expertise to steal a piece of technology from Darren Cross (Corey Stoll – Salt), the guy who has bought out Pym from his own company and has turned his own daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) against him.

THE GOOD:

1. The movie was very reminiscent of the first Iron Man and The Hulk movies, in that it used the same format: just give the bad guy the same thing the hero has but with a little more fire power. I guess it makes sense, since this is, after all, an origin movie.

   

2. Paul Rudd. I was reading the trivia page and found that JGL and Ewan McGregor were in the running for the role of Scott Lang. As much as I love those two, I’ve got to say that no one would’ve been able to pull off the character with a precise comedic timing while at the same time being extremely likable as Paul Rudd. He just has that face, you know?

   

3. I still can’t believe that they actually got Michael Douglas to actually be part of this. These is the new era where acclaimed actors like Michael Douglas and Robert Redford actually willingly choose to be in Marvel superhero movies. Michael Douglas was actually a pretty good choice because there is still a hint of nefariousness in him that would make his Hank Pym seem threatening but he still had that vulnerability in him that makes his feelings for his family very tangible.

   

4. The whole retelling of the job sequence. It was brilliant and creative and something that I’ve never seen before. I wonder if it was something that came from Edgar Wright, hmm.
5. The action sequences were entertaining and were actually kind of funny. I can only imagine how difficult it is to make fight scene wit miniscule actors seem engaging, but the climactic battle scene was pretty memorable. I especially loved the giant train and the giant ant that scared the bejeezus out of Maggie and the cops.

THE BAD:

1. That they didn’t really explain why Hank can’t put on the suit anymore. Was it cancer? Or was he just too old? I remember him saying quite emphatically that he couldn’t, so what gives? Does this mean that Scott (at least in the movie universe) is destined to have the same fate as Hank Pym?
2. Evangeline Lilly’s Hope was a bit of a vague character. I wish they’d just left her to be the daughter who ended up hating her father and siding with the bad guy; this whole double-double-crossing thing was a bit of a muck. I don’t understand why, if it was so super imperative that Cross never recreate the ant-man suit, did they have to wait up until the point that he almost did recreate it before they took any action? Had she been a better spy she would’ve offed Cross the moment he got it into his head that the ant-man suit was real.
3. That the story ended up being a bit too predictable. Not necessarily a bad thing, but this film felt more like a Phase One movie and given what we’ve already been dealt with by the Phase Two films, this definitely felt out of place.
4. The jarring effect every time they mentioned anybody from the Avengers universe. I guess this was where the studio mandated rewrites came in, although I just wish that they put a little bit more effort into making a more seamless process, you know? I actually kinda cringed whenever Hank Pym mentioned the Stark name. I guess Edward Wright’s story felt too much like a solo flick that it was a bit grating to be reminded that oh yeah, this is part of a bigger story arc.

THE UGLY:

1. The fear that all of the charm will be lost once Ant-Man enters the Avengers team. It’s just that it’s such a smart movie as it is already that I can’t help but feel that it will only be ruined when it gets integrated into the chaotic world of the Avengers. Everything there is big, big, big and really, how can Ant-Man survive?

All in all, Ant-Man was a very interesting movie. Not once did I check my phone for any messages nor did I take a peek to check the time during the two hour run time. The lines were smart and funny, and the characters were written so well that it was very difficult not to care for any of them. A lot can be said for a movie when even the death of an ant moved the audience. Performances were generally great all around, but it really was the writing that shone in this film – it was obvious that a lot of thought and care was put into building this story and it’d be a shame if it got ruined when it eventually gets absorbed by the Avengers.

THE VERDICT: 8/10

*All photos are lifted from Ant-Man’s IMDB page.