Lights, Camera, Action! | Ant-Man (Movie Review)

Ant-Man (UK Rating: 12A)

He is one of those heroes who has no super powers of his own, with it being all about the suit. Cat burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is just out of prison and determined to go straight, but the temptations of his former profession are too strong and he breaks into a mansion intending to clean out a safe full of money, yet it only contains a strange suit, one that has powers of its own, and he's soon working with its creator, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who has kept it secret for years. Those powers can make a man shrink to the size of an ant and come back again, and they are in serious danger of falling into the wrong hands.

Despite all the hiccoughs along the way, Ant-Man has turned out to be surprisingly good, so much so that it could easily turn into this summer's surprise hit, following in the footsteps of last year's Guardians of the Galaxy, and, even though Paul Rudd's been quoted as saying he never envisaged himself in a Marvel film, he's the perfect choice for this one. His affable, everyman quality suits his character perfectly, and it's a role that makes good use of his comic abilities, which are essential in a movie with a generous helping of verbal and visual gags, all played completely straight and all hitting the funny bone.

The film isn't all about the humour, however, and what makes it unusual is the way it uses 3D. Wright's successor as director, Peyton Reed, has said that the film was designed to be made and seen in 3D… and it definitely shows. This is no bolt-on, but an integral part of the film, so that the world through the eyes of the tiny Ant-Man is vivid in its details and reality - even down to the size of the plug (1½ inches) in the bath. That bath, usually a benign object, is a real threat to the minuscule hero, especially when water gushes from the tap. The way he leads his ant troops, how he runs through carpet tufts and grass - it's all sharp, exciting, and technically superb.

9/10

Exceptional - Gold Award

Ant-Man is irresistible. The combination of action, humour, and good old fashioned fun make it great family entertainment, and it's one of those rare occasions where paying extra for those 3D glasses is genuinely worth it. The omens weren't good, but this is a film that's turned out to be better than most people expected. An unexpected hit is very much on the cards.