An Astonishing Chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: 9/10 (18 July 2015)

Marvel has done it again! After what I first considered a lackluster performance with "Avengers: Age of Ultron" a couple of months ago (that film does get better with a second viewing), Marvel has bounced back well with "Ant-Man".
A few brief quips about the way this film came together: historically, Ant-Man and his partner the Wasp are original founding members of the Avengers. Indeed, Ant-Man is one of the first superheroes of the Marvel Silver Age of comics in the early 1960's. What's more, the first Ant-Man is always Hank Pym, who plays a much larger role in the Marvel comics universe than he has in the MCU. Pym (played by Michael Douglas in the movie) is actually the creator of Ultron in the comics, which was completely redone for the MCU this summer, an oddity considering that it would have been easy to weave Pym into "Age of Ultron" some way.
The point is that this movie doesn't exactly follow its source material very well. And yet, it is told in a way that incorporates the source material such that it treats the comics with respect even if a new tale is being told here.
That said, the film itself is Astonishing! Marvel has taken one of its lesser known, B-role characters and established him as a strong independent hero. The story revolves around Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, who we learn had been an Ant-Man a generation ago, recruiting a new protégé, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to take his place. The story is an origin tale of both Pym and Lang, combined, and introduces other characters in a way that the Ant-Man series stands on its own apart from the rest of the MCU.
Having mentioned that, it was actually quite refreshing to see an MCU movie where there wasn't an extraordinary amount of overlap with characters from ongoing series. There is no setup for an Infinity War series here, and very little in terms of characters from other films at all (some Shield stuff in the beginning and a brief but fun scene with the Falcon being the exceptions).
The effects in this movie are terrific. It's literally like making a superhero movie out of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!". I went in a bit skeptical, even though I like Ant-Man as a character, but the film completely won me over. It has strong, good, well paced story telling (the lack of which was my main beef with "Age of Ultron"). The acting is good, the plot is good, everything rocks.
The only thing keeping me from giving this film a perfect ten is that in spite of how good it is, and it is good, it just felt a little bit off compared to a perfect ten. Actually, that's not true. It's not that it "felt off". It didn't--it far exceeded my expectations. But when I think about a perfect ten movie, I think of a great epic, something that is a film that makes a stunning contribution to film or its genre. I think Ant-Man falls just short of that. "Ant-Man" is a superb Marvel film that makes a great addition to the stable of MCU films, but it's not up there with a "Godfather" or a "Star Wars". It's enjoyable as all get out, but it isn't groundbreaking in the way a perfect ten is. And that's why I've gone with nine stars.
That said, I'd highly recommend this film. There are a couple of bad words in the film, including the "S" word a few times, so bear that in mind if you're taking the kids, but aside from that this is a movie that young and old should find enjoyable and entertaining. Well done Marvel, well done!