Ant-Man (7.5/10)

Ant-Man production has had its own tidal waves, what with original writer-director Edgar Wright departing the project just as production was about to begin, due to creative differences; even though it was reported as an amicable split.

Peyton Reed stepped in as helmer after a quick but thorough recruitment process for a new director. To give Reed full credit for the success of this movie would be inaccurate. To me, it's all Marvel's, more specifically, Kevin Feige's vision that they were able to pull off Ant-Man so successfully.

Yes, Ant-Man was a success. Though one of the original Avengers in the comic books, he has been left out in Phase 1 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to a weaker name and a less interesting super power.

But I believe Feige always known what he wanted to do with Ant-Man, just not in Phase 1. And what we see now is still the end product of that initial vision created together with Edgar Wright. They wanted Ant-Man to be a heist movie that crosses over with a shrinking movie (a la Honey, I Shrunk The Kids).

The execution was brilliant. Reed brought with him comedic timing and direction. And as an origin story, this harked back to the first Iron Man movie which kicked off Phase 1. And there's a certain poetic justice to have Ant-Man closing off Phase 2.

Paul Rudd's casting is an inspired one. Who would have thought way back in the mid 90's when we were first introduced to Rudd in Clueless, and after he kept doing comedy after comedy, that we would one day see Rudd as an action superhero. He's taken a very similar route like Chris Pratt.

Another inspired choice in casting was Michael Douglas. Another heavyweight veteran in Hollywood that only Marvel Studios can attract. The others that has so far shared that circle of greatness has been Robert Redford and Glenn Close.

Corey Stoll is another, playing the antagonist Yellowjacket. He brought with him the conviction and drive that his character so needed in order for the audience to believe his cause. Stoll definitely is a one-to-watch. I just hope we see more of him in the future in the MCU.

And I loved how they treated Bobby Cannavale's character. He wasn't a throwaway character at all.

Why didn't they bring in Dominic Cooper to play Howard Stark though? It's very strange for them to bring back Hayley Atwell and yet replaced Cooper. Especially when they have just renewed another season for "Agent Carter". John Slattery did not have the same personality as Cooper for Stark.

As a heist movie, I wanted it to be sexier. Think of Ocean's Eleven (which I'm still convinced that every time Michael Pena's character in Ant-Man wants to explain a tip he received, that opening riff is taken from Ocean's Eleven or a similar heist movie). The aforementioned film has an ensemble cast that helps the protagonist in stealing something. And the result, be it in the Ocean's movies or The Italian Job or even Mission: Impossible, has always been sexy. That was what's lacking in Ant-Man.

And I would have liked to see more of Scott Lang's friends in action to create that sexy steal, but only Pena had breakout moments while T.I. and David Dastmalchian were left out in the cold.

Also what was lacking was the action. Granted that Ant-Man isn't all about fighting, but of the two fight sequences that we got, only the first one was impressive. The second one, though covered up very well by Reed, was a bit of a lackluster.

So I guess I can understand Feige's decision to leave Ant-Man in Phase 2 and to leave him out of the Avengers' initial creation. Ant-Man isn't really a super-powered hero and shared some similarities to the origin of Iron Man.

But as a Marvel movie, it works. And I laughed a lot. My favourite line was Rudd to Evangeline Lily, "Were you even aiming for the hand?"