Movie Review: Ant-Man

Previous Review: Terminator Genisys

Marvel has gone a long way. We've seen pretty much anything else that the studio has thrown our way: a super soldier, highly trained superspy, a brilliant billionaire with powerful suits, a powerful rage giant, a Norse God, a master archer and a mutant (or 'Enhanced') to make up a team. We've also seen a talking raccoon, a sentient plant tree and other alien beings as well. So now, what's so special or mind-blowing about a guy who possesses a suit with the ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength?

Despite the fact that Ant-Man supposed to be the founding member of The Avengers and the creator of Ultron (Hank Pym, not Scott Lang) in the comics, he's a lesser known hero among the many Marvel superheroes we've seen before. In the comics, it was Hank Pym/Ant-Man who suggested the Marvel heroes to fight together against Loki and it was his wife Janet van Dyne/Wasp who came up with the name Avengers for the group. Ant-Man was supposed to be directed by Edgar Wright (The World's End, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Hot Fuzz), who's also the writer for the film as well. He originally wanted it to be a rather 'self-contained' film to develop the characters properly. But he decided to leave the project due to many script changes that need to be implemented to link it with the cinematic universe. After watching the film, it's not hard to see what are the changes that Marvel insisted to do for the film:more action, more cameo appearances and setups to tie up the continuity together.

Over the years, Marvel film plots have become more complex than ever before, they're heavily reliant on pre-existing knowledge (and its source material as well) for the audience to understand what is happening. Surprisingly, Ant-Man is much like other Marvel Phase 1 films that came before, its story is rather straightforward, simple and similar to Iron Man. The difference is (compared with Iron Man) that we're expected to fully believe the science elements that they've explained throughout the film. Thankfully, there isn't really much a need to know in detail as the concept of shrinking yourself to the size of an ant (or smaller) is purely fictional.

As usual, there are no darker themes, overly serious or melodramatic scenes in this film. There are three supporting characters who served as comic reliefs and the film is filled with many funny lines and comedic scenes to entertain the audience. There are many scenes that establish continuity to past films that will surely delight many Marvel fans, with an unexpected appearance of an Avenger member in the film. Aside from its focus on father-daughter relationships (and more action), the film is also a heist film, with the main characters try to steal the antagonist, Darren Cross' Yellowjacket shrink suit, to prevent the technology from falling into the wrong hands.

However, the character and relationship development feels rushed and it's filled with many events that are not central to its plotline. In the beginning, a lot of things are being shoehorned to the audience: we're quickly brief through how Scott ends up in prison, how he knows his best buddy, we expect Scott to be a highly skilled burglar/thief/electrical engineer, Hank Pym is a genius who managed to develop the shrinking technology, Hank's estranged relationship with his daughter, Hope. It feels like the studio wanted the audience to just go with it. To be honest, Scott Lang isn't really a character that you can relate with, he's commited a crime that few would possible or capable to commit. Moreover, some of the CGI scenes in the film are not that convincing that it needs to be, especially some shrinking scenes and the 'climactic' battle between Scott and Darren. The biggest disappointment would be that Marvel has failed to give us a memorable, compelling villain again. The villain, Darren Cross is lacklustre, underdeveloped and very similar to the character Obadiah Stane in the first Iron Man film. Darren Cross, much like Obadiah Stane, overtook Hank Pym's company a few years back and intends to obtain the shrinking technology, make his own suit and sell it. His motivations are clear and simple, mostly explained through exposition by other characters in the film.

Don't get me wrong, Ant-Man is not a bad film in any way. It's just that it shares many similarities with many superhero films that came before (especially Iron Man) and Marvel should have introduced this character in Phase one instead. We've progressed far too much that it's just not that special or satisfying anymore to see an ordinary 'superhero' who possesses a suit that's able to shrink in scale and increase in strength.

Rating comparisons with other Marvel Cinematic Universe films:

Iron Man	2008	8/10
The Incredible Hulk	2008	7/10
Iron Man 2	2010	7/10
Thor	2011	7/10
Captain America: The First Avenger	2011	8/10
The Avengers	2012	9/10
Iron Man 3	2013	8.5/10
Thor: The Dark World	2013	8/10
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	2014	8.5/10
Guardians of the Galaxy	2014	7.5/10
Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	8/10
Ant-Man	2015	7.5/10

Note: Make sure you stay for the mid-credit and post-credit scenes. The mid-credit scene sets the stage for the future of a new superheroine in the Cinematic Universe and the post-credit scene sets the stage for Captain America: Civil War which will be released next year.

Previous Review: Terminator Genisys