Ant-Man *** (2015, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale) – Movie Review

Paul Rudd keeps surprisingly cheery as con-man Scott Lang who enjoys the double-edged sword of the ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, apparently at will, so he can get out of trouble whenever he needs.

Ant-Man is not really the best of the Marvel superheroes, after all he’s too darned small! But Rudd makes the most of it, and Michael Douglas adds some heavy-weight authority as his mentor, Dr Hank Pym.

There are lots of easy-going laughs in the amiable screenplay, but not much in the way of grown-up excitement as Pym and Lang plan to pull off a heist that will save the world. Usually laughs and fun are a good thing. It is a comic after all. But this time there really needs to be more dark side and true sense of danger in this particular Marvel universe.

Corey Stoll is a bit of a one-note cardboard villain as Yellowjacket, but Michael Peña gets lots of silly laughs as Lang’s fellow crook Luis and Evangeline Lilly is nice and feisty as the heroine Hope van Dyne, Pym’s daughter. [In the comics, she was an unrelated super-villainess called the Red Queen.]

I found it all a bit cosy and tame, with some weedy humour and too much emphasis on the ex-wife (Judy Greer), the new cop husband (Bobby Cannavale) and the winsome little daughter (Abby Ryder Fortson). But there were huge laughs in the big Odeon Leicester Square, and lots of happy customers.

The production and CGI work are absolutely splendid. These and Rudd’s nice star presence saved it for me. Even if he looks a bit daft in the ant suit, he has the charisma to keep Ant-Man buzzing.

Are we getting too many Marvel movies now? Is it starting to be overkill? Maybe soon but perhaps not just quite yet. When Marvel is muscular, it’s Marvellous.

Rudd will reprise his role in Captain America: Civil War.

PS: In the Marvel Comics universe, Ant-Man is the superhero persona of scientist Dr Hank Pym, who invented a substance that allowed him to change his size. Hank Pym was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Marvel Comics Tales to Astonish number 27 (January 1962) and first appeared as Ant-Man in number 35 (September 1962). When Pym retired as Ant-Man, Scott Lang and Eric O’Grady took over.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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