That shrinking feeling

Rating: 6/10 (6 November 2015)

I guess a lot of people thought (me included) that this could be the one Marvel Film that could flop at the box office. Not helped by the late change in director as Edgar Wright walked out after developing the project for years. The marketing of the film also seemed unfocused.
The opening part of the film did not hold out much hope. Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a down on his luck ex-con. He has recently got out of jail, cannot hold a decent job because of his criminal record. His ex-wife is about to marry a cop and he has trouble getting access to his daughter because he cannot pay child support.
His friends persuade to him to take part in a heist and this is when we find out that Lang is just a little more than a cat burglar but someone rather smart, resourceful and cunning. However his efforts in trying to break into an impregnable safe rewards him with just a funny kind of costume. A costume which he discovers has special powers that shrinks him. Lang is arrested when he tries to give the costume back.
Lang is contacted in jail by scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas.) In an opening flashback we see that he worked for Shield. Now he has been forced out of his company by his own protégé Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) and estranged daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly.)
Pym has mastered the technology in developing a suit that shrinks but also has a device that controls ants. He did not want the project to fall into wrong hands. Cross has been developing his own similar project unsuccessfully. His Yellowjacket so far fails to shrink and we soon find out that he will stop at nothing.
Pym thinks it is only a matter of time before Cross will succeed and Lang is persuaded to develop his skills with Pym as mentor. Hope who has realised that Cross has gone too far is his trainer. Together with an army of intelligent ants, Lang learns how to shrink and de-shrink in an instance as well as learn how to do combat.
Lang teams up with his band of ex-cons to break into Cross's firm and destroy the suit assisted by Hope still in the inside.
There is nothing original about Ant Man in the Marvel film universe, well apart from that he shrinks in size and never gets stepped on. It is the usual case of an ordinary guy, who has got the wrong end of the stick in life, develops superpowers via a suit, learns how to use it and goes after the bad guys. This is the initial part of the set up and the film takes it time getting there. It only really finds the right gear in the second half of the film.
There is very little else in the plot that will shake you. Hank's protégé is bald so just think Jeff Bridges in Iron Man. Cross immediately is shown to be evil so no surprises there.
This leaves with Rudd giving enough of a quirky performance which is mainly the reason why he was cast. He is just right being the every man loser, wanting to do the right thing. He is charming, funny in an understated way and likable, less of a grunt compared to other Marvel Film characters. Of course he needs to be quirky and off beat when the concept is a man that shrinks to an ant.
When you see some of the action sequences, especially at the climax, I think it is clear that Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish's script elements have been maintained with a big influence from, dare I say Wallace & Gromit. Just look at that scene involving Thomas the Tank Engine.
Paul Rudd is ably assisted by Michael Pena and his gang of misfit ex-cons. Douglas is solid as Hank, suspicious of Shield, Cross and ghosts from the past.
Although it does not at times feel like a Marvel film their are enough references to Shield and Avengers as well as an Avengers sidekick flying in.
It looks like Marvel were right to have faith in Ant-Man as he was punched above his size at the box office.