Oh, Ant-Man. I’m going to try really hard not to turn this into the airing of grievances. I still think this is one of the laziest scripts I have ever seen. I’m not sure what happened after Wright left: if this was his script that got botched or his script was just bad. But this film lays out the bare minimum for its plot. A lot of it doesn’t make sense but the action scenes are fun and inventive and have a playful quality to them. I just wish the rest of the film put in more effort.
The casting is good. Rudd, as always, is likable and I’ve always been a fan of Michael Douglas. Lilly was, unfortunately, wasted and hopefully gets more to do in the sequel and and Avengers 4. She also is put into the worst romance of the MCU yet. Rudd and Lilly have zero chemistry and have almost no interaction other than contentious throughout the film. Suddenly they’re kissing at the end because . . . reasons. Oh right. The abs. The abs always make the woman fall in love.
The characterization is non-existent. This film is the epitome of “tell, don’t show”. From Scott’s history to the fallout at Pym Tech, all of these subplots we get through exposition sound more interesting than what’s on the screen. Scott is given a daughter as motivation but other than her introduction, she only appears again to be the target of the villain’s wrath. His judgmental ex-wife is cliched along with her jerk boyfriend. Why haven’t you paid any child support while you were in prison and then unemployed?!? The film is scared to make him a dead beat dad so he’s given likable conditions for his plight so the audience will connect with him but robs the other characters of any justification for how they act. Wouldn’t she be more upset that he threw his life away for some Robin Hood thievery than a lack of child support?
The villain is one of the worst in the MCU. Not just zero motivation, but evil for no other reason than because he is a villain. There’s a throwaway line about how the particle is affecting his brain. Except he hasn’t used it on himself at that point. He murders a guy twenty minutes in just so we understand he’s evil. If you didn’t get the message then he moved onto cute animals soon after. To make things ever sillier, HYDRA is in its weird “global corporation” phase where they just show up as if it’s normal while SHIELD agents are on the run elsewhere in the MCU.
The humor is very hit and miss. I don’t think the heist crew adds much to the film. I do like the idea of an MCU film built around a heist. Coming off Age of Ultron, it would have been a nice change of pace to do a smaller film on the scale of Iron Man. Except it seems the producers got gun-shy and the stakes had to be raised to a silly degree. Cue HYDRA.
I’m torn on this film. It’s not the worst in the MCU. But I have more respect for a film that sets out with lofty goals (like Iron Man 2) but just does a botch job of it rather than not trying at all. Marvel knew it was getting business no matter what and put in the least amount of effort in what could have been a quirky, oddball film possibly even more than Guardians. You’re guaranteed a profit. Take some risk! Doctor Strange has a similar feel. I’ll going to be generous with a 5. Although I could see myself giving this a 4 but that would make it the worst (for me). Phase Three, here we come!
Current Rankings:
1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2) Iron Man
3) The Avengers
4) Guardians of the Galaxy
5) The Incredible Hulk
6) Avengers: Age of Ultron
7) Black Panther
8) Iron Man 3
9) Captain America: The First Avenger
10) Ant-Man
11) Thor: The Dark World
12) Thor
13) Iron Man 2
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
