A refreshing and incredible addition to the MCU

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2015)

Marvel returns to top form after the extremely underwhelming and disappointing 'Avenger's: Age of Ultron' to give us 'Ant-Man'. It is the 12th film in the long running cinematic franchise. A refreshing look at a whole set of new character and a whole new adventure to accompany them.
This for me is without a doubt one of the best MCU films, if not marvel films in general, to come out in recent years. With an intelligently written, charming and HILARIOUS script. WITHOUT a doubt Marvel's funniest movie to date. The dialogue in this movie has Edgar Wright written all over it. There's not a joke that doesn't hit at least one member of the audience. Lines that nobody laughed at I understood the references and found them to be hilarious. It definitely has a style of humour that will cater to all kinds of people. But it isn't a comedy, it's just unbelievably funny, at heart it's a heist film. And a damn good one at that
It never diverted off track as many blockbusters in recent years have done. It was a well told plot, it never really felt convoluted or messy. When one arc was being told it stuck to that one arc and it was clear cut and you always knew what was happening on screen when it was happening. As I've stated in my previous paragraph it's obvious to any one that this was in some parts written and influenced by Edgar Wright.
Some of the coolest and likable characters in the whole of the MCU appear in this movie. Every word that came out of Michael Peña's mouth had me in stitches, he was one of the many highlights of the movie. One of which being Paul Rudd as the titular character. With such charisma and character he graces the screen and the majority of the scenes he's in, well, any scene without Peña that is. Having such a likable person play a very down on his luck guy who's just trying to turn his life around and be a better father to his daughter really adds to the sympathy you feel for the character. And makes you want him to succeed.
I liked how they stuck to the mythos of Scott Lang, having him be a thief and a crook, having him steal the suit from Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) was straight out of the comics. Unlike with Tony creating Ultron instead of Pym. It's definitely one of the most 'close to the source material' marvel films to be released which is something admirable in itself. All the little details like having the daughter of Hank, Hope, added into the mix. The story of how Janet died wasn't exactly accurate but it worked perfectly with the story. It seemed like a good way of going about it, it added emotion and depth to the characters to make you care for them more. To which the critics say there was no emotional weight, but when you have likable characters in a movie played by likable people and a well written script to go along, you definitely start to feel sympathy for them in a way that it doesn't feel shoehorned in. Unlike again, the Black Widow and Bruce Banner love interest or the death of a certain character. It isn't forced in there out of the blue to make you care how they end up. You care because of how well they're written. You may feel like in nitpicking and bashing Age of Ultron but I'm not, these little detours have a reason. That reason is the right and wrong way to do it. And this was definitely the right way.
The villain: He wasn't top tear MCU villain like, in my opinion Loki and, who else? Nope just him. He wasn't in it a huge deal. He wasn't really fleshed out, but I could see from the trailers that he wasn't really going to be. He showed emotion and reasoning that could seem justifiable to some. But he never had a just cause, the story of why he was doing what he was doing wasn't really explained. He just seemed angry at Hank for tossing him aside. It felt in a way like a good old fashion revenge story but with a slightly different agenda more than it did anything else. He could have been a little more developed, but it's marvel, what can you do? He was menacing and Corey Stoll portrayed him quite well considering what he was given.
I think another thing I liked about this movie was it's use of CGI and special effects. It wasn't overbearing like in *Cough* Age of Ultron *cough*, sorry. It was well used, it was easy on the eyes and not shoved right in your face like he whom shall not be named. It was just the right amount. The action scenes are great, there's levels of threat that you feel. You feel kind of suspenseful, not much but it's definitely there. The parts where the main characters were in peril weren't as life threatening as they maybe could have been. But these are minor if not unnoticeable discrepancies.
All in all 'Ant-Man' is a SUPER FUN MOVIE, I had a ball with this film. I was in hysterics as the humour hit a good 90% of the time. Action is realistic and believable and the villain while not very fleshed out was threatening on screen. This movie is, as Jeremy Jahns would put it.
AWESOMETACULAR!!