Marvel is aware that despite being one of the founding Avengers they now Ant-man is about as well known to the general public who doesn't read the comics as Rocket Racoon and the concept is just a s willy to some people, so they tried to take a similar tone as Guardians of the Galaxy. One of the things Marvel is doing since they are also aware if they approach the basic origin superhero formula in the same say it will accelerate the fatigue of the trend they are riding so they have tried to make each film fit a different mold, the first Capt America really stated this as that was their war film, Thor their epic Fantasy, the second Captain America, was their espionage movie, Guardians there space opera, with some of the other movies in-between those being allowed to be more comic centric. One can assume Dr. Strange with also be set aside in that way , but after that they might be in trouble. So Ant-man is their heist film. This Ocean 11 type element injected into the movie takes itself pretty seriously and the supposed humor that apologizes for being about a man makes himself the size of an ant is often counter balanced by this.
The humor really isn't that funny, I don't think I laughed the entire film, granted I generally did like comedies because much like Ant-man they try to hard to make you like and it ends up feeling very contrived.The huge Thomas the Tank Engine or the pet ant, seem to be a bit of a reach. For me where the film works is they allow Lang to keep his mask on. They do acknowledge that Hank Pym was originally Ant-man and they even show Wasp for about ten seconds as a flash back sequence. I am not sure why they didn't allow Hank Pym to be Ant-man rather than going with Scott Lang. Its another way Marvel has screwed themselves from being able to connect the dots with their own mythos. How can Wonder Man ever show up ?
Paul Rudd gets the job done. Douglas is also pretty decent as the aged Pym. Every one else is a little stiff. It takes thirty minutes before he gets the costume on, and while I like how that comes about , I think all origins should take place in the first ten minutes and then it's go time. I liked how it connected to Avengers two, Falcon's appearance was cool, and was it me of did his costume look a little red white and blue, which could lead to one of my fears about the prophetic tone the comics could be taking in order to work around actors contractual obligations and give Marvel a loop hole out of the Disney deal.
In the new politically correct world of geekdom, there have been questions about how Wasp was sidelined, how black and Hispanics are portrayed and I think if any stereotypes were played into it was done so with a reason that made sense for the story and you have to remember stereotypes get played into because there have been enough examples to justify them. Hollywood works off archetypes, Yellow Jackets plays into some of the most run of the mill villain cliches. He just hops into his suit and they are at it , so I am not sure why Rudd had to train to used his and Yellow Jacket was able to pop it on and go. I am not sure why Marvel didn't show Pym as Giant Man rather using the particles to make inanimate things bigger.
Quality wise some of the cgi did't hold up to the other movies when they are small everything is not as blended. They have elluded to the fact that the astral world of Dr strange is going to be like sub atomic world, which I hope is not the cas as it looks like a darker version of the dreamier Fortress of Solitude sequences from the Reeve era Super-man films.The ants at times were a little suspect and I was surprised that that element of his powers took so much focus , so I give them props for at least not downplaying that.
Was it fun? Sure and it didn't come across to much like "Honey I Shrunk the Avenger". It was a pretty mixed bag and I am glad I didn't throw down the twelve bucks to see it in the theater and you should only do that if you have nothing better to do and too much money or a bug Scott Lang fan. As Superhero movies go I think it's better than Spider-man 3, Iron Man 2, Daredevil, the first Punisher, Catwoman, Dark Knight Rises, Electra, most of the Blade Sequels and Fantastic Four so use that as your barometer , after Dr. Strange it's only going to get worse from here as Captain Marvel comes across like My Super Ex Girl Friend and Black Panther the Captain Africa.
