The world's smallest superhero!

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2017)

After three years in prison cat burglar Scott Lang finds it difficult to find work so soon gets involved in a robbery. His criminal contacts have learnt about an old man with a massive safe in his basement they don't know what it contains but given the security it must be valuable. He is rather surprised to discover that all it contains is what looks like an old biker-suit. He takes it and tries it on later suddenly he shrinks to the size of an ant! It turns out the suit's owner, Dr Hank Pym, intended for him to steal it he wants somebody who is a skilled burglar to use the suit for a very specific job. Initially Scott isn't interested but inevitably he is soon pulled in. Hank explains how the suit works and tells Scott that he is worried because his former protégé Darren Cross has replicated the technology and intends to sell it to the highest bidder. Scott won't be working alone; he will have support from Hank, his daughter Hope, his three criminal friends and lots of ants it turns out Dr Pym has developed technology that enables ants to be telepathically controlled! Ultimately Scott, in his Ant-Man suit will have to face Cross who is wearing his fully armed 'Yellowjacket' suit.
Not being a comic reader I wasn't familiar with Ant-Man before this film came out but when heard about it I thought the premise sounded rather fun and so it is. There are some humorous moments, mostly provided by Scott's criminal friends; these are fun and don't detract from the story. Scott/Ant-Man is a good protagonist as he isn't a typical superhero; he has no natural superpowers and the technology he uses wasn't invented by himself. Paul Rudd does a fine job in the role and is ably supported by Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly as Dr Pym and Hope. Corey Stoll is suitably menacing as Cross and Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris and David Dastmalchian are fun as Scott's criminal friends. The special effects are very impressive making it easy to suspend ones disbelief and accept that Ant-Man can change size and interact with actual ants. I liked the fact that while it is made clear that this film takes place in the same reality as other Marvell superhero films it doesn't guest star any other well-known superheroes just one less well known one in a scene where Ant-Man infiltrates an Avengers facility to steal a needed piece of equipment. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the superhero genre; it is lots of fun and has plenty of exciting moments.