The
following text is a (rough) translation of my Swedish review which can be read
at the Swedish online movie magazine MovieZine.
Because of that, the presentation is different from the usual way I write my
reviews for this blog.
A heist movie - but with superheroes (and ants)
First official trailer of Ant-Man. (Marvel Studios)
Ant-Man is the twelfth film (in order) which takes
place in the fictional Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU), a couple of months after The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Instead
of writing the plot's summary which many reviewers already had done, I'll immediately
tell you what I think about the movie.
After watching
several MCU films with epic battles between Good and Evil, I must say that Ant-Man feels very different – at least when
I watched it at the cinema.
The
thing is that Ant-Man doesn’t feel
like a classic superhero movie. Instead, it's more like a family-friendly heist
film (à la Ocean's Eleven) where a
sympathetic protagonist (Paul Rudd) is hired by a scientist (Michael Douglas)
to steal a weapon which is dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. The fact
that our hero gets the help of three other cronies in order to succeed with the
heist makes the film feel even less like a superhero movie.
Of
course, in order for the visitors to get the feeling that Ant-Man really is a superhero movie taking place in the MCU, Marvel
adds another superhero (Falcon from Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, played by Anthony Mackie) and cameos such as
Peggy Carter (from Captain America,
played by Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (the older version from Iron Man 2, played by John Slattery).
And don't forget the villain who also receives superpowers (in one way or
another) towards the end of the film.
When you
read this review, you may think that I'm criticizing the movie. Not at all!
The film
is funny with its funny dialogues. Michael Douglas makes a great interpretation
of Dr. Hank Pym where he convinces the moviegoers of his inventions and
discoveries. Paul Rudd is absolutely superb as the sympathetic burglar Scott
Lang who does everything for his daughter and becomes the superhero Ant-Man.
I almost
forgot to comment on the film's special effects. All of the scenes where the
protagonist shrinks himself to the size of an ant are well done. Many have
compared these scenes with Honey, I
Shrunk the Kids (1989). Personally, I think Ant-Man has taken a step further and can also be compared with A Bug's Life (1998). It's awesome to see
the protagonists being able to communicate with ants (which plays a very
important role in the plot), don't you agree?
Another
cool special effect is when Michael Douglas (thanks to Lola VFX) also plays a
younger version of himself instead of using a younger actor. It's fantastic to
be able to see him in a flashback where he looks just like when he starred in
the movie Wall Street (1987).
Unfortunately
there are things in the movie which I'm not satisfied with. Firstly, I don't find
the antagonist (played by Corey Stoll) not convincing enough. True, he is evil
and doesn't hesitate to kill in order to reach his goal. But is he as
intimidating as previous MCU-villains, like Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges),
Abomination (Tim Roth) and the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving)? I think not.
Secondly,
I'm not too fond of the character Hope Van Dyne (the scientist's daughter)
played by Evangeline Lilly. For some reason, I don't think the Hobbit-actress is
the right choice for the role. I can't explain it, something just doesn't feel right.
Also, I am no fan of the character's hairstyle.
I saw
the 3D version of the film, but I don't think there is much difference between the
'regular' and the 3D version. The 3D effects are seen only in a few scenes.
Despite
these disadvantages, I think the film deserves four stars of five, and I look
forward to Ant-Man's next adventure in the MCU.
By the
way, don't leave until you've watched the two post-credit scenes. Otherwise you'll
miss important clues to the next MCU movie coming in 2016!
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