Movie Breakdown: Ant-Man

The Impression:

Marvel goes … small … in the wake of the enormous Age of Ultron.  Paul Rudd stars.  The film looks kind of goofy.

The Reality:

Ant-Man is an overall entertaining film, but it’s also an odd one.  It fits into the universe that Marvel has created, but its various references to it (especially the scene at Avengers HQ with Falcon) come off as really forced.  It’s funny, but for every joke that hits, there’s one that falls so flat you’ll glance at the person next to you to see if maybe you just didn’t get it.  Paul Rudd, Michael Pena and Michael Douglas turn in quality work, but Evangeline Lilly comes off as bored and Corey Stoll may have just googled “how villains act” and based his character off of the results. In other words, half of Ant-Man works and half of it just feels flat and/or off.  This, I’m assuming, is simply just the byproduct of director/writer Edgar Wright’s early exit from the film due to creative differences with Marvel.  He quit, then the movie got tossed around to too many people, and the end result is a wonky film that’s pretty fun but also shrug-worthy and instantly forgettable.  Success?

Matinee this one, friends.

PS – Big ups to director Peyton Reed for making the best of an awkward situation. Without him I think the film would have been an all-out mess.

The Lesson:

You’re slipping, Marvel.