Ant-Man - Cinema Review

'the film doesn't quite put its tongue in its cheek at its own ridiculous concept, but it is probably as close as Marvel are ever going to get to doing so'

The criteria for a good Marvel movie nowadays surely needs to include some consideration of how much it does differently to the last Marvel movie. On that front at least, Ant-Man offers some hope.

Peyton Reed, who of course replaced Edgar Wright as director at a pretty late stage, brings his Comedy sensibility and makes Ant-Man Marvel's funniest film to date. It's not quite a Comedy - the plodding middle in fact is a Comedy vacuum - but the finale in particular has several loud laughs from sources you just would not expect to feature in a Marvel film. They're developed and attractively silly rather than sophisticated; the film doesn't quite put its tongue in its cheek at its own ridiculous concept, but it is probably as close as Marvel are ever going to get to doing so.

Unfortunately, Reed can't quite manufacture a plot that does much differently to more standard Marvel offerings. These films are always going to be good vs evil, but the creative geniuses involved in them should mean that new ways can be found to tell those stories. The script, an adaptation by Adam McKay and star Paul Rudd of Wright and Joe Cornish's original, never really gives anyone a chance, though, as mentioned, there is some very, very welcome diversion from the now overly-predictable, over-sized, final battle.

In the lead, Rudd is terrific, successfully reigning in his more laddish Comedy traits (as instead occupied by Michael Peña's very funny troupe of slightly inept criminals) for a script that doesn't call for them. Bobby Cannavale in particular feels a bit surplus to requirements, but Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly are convincing and entirely believable as a bickering father and daughter, fighting corporate psychopath Darren Cross (Corey Stoll).

If you like Marvel movies you will, surprise, like this; if you do not, there are enough jokes to potentially change your mind. It is - and how often can you say this about Marvel - a good film, with some attempts to tweak their formula, that never get as far as ringing in a genuine step change.

By Sam Turner. Sam is editor of Film Intel, and can usually be found behind a keyboard with a cup of tea. He likes entertaining films and dislikes the other kind. He's on Google+, Twitter and several places even he doesn't yet know about.