The little super hero movie that could

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2015)

If ever there was a movie in the hugely successful Marvel Studio's film franchise doomed to failure it had to be Ant-man. It had everything up against it. I mean, come one!! A Super Hero who shrinks??!! In a world where bigger is better, where size matters, where strength prevails, a hero whose only ability is he can be little??!!
Surely, considering that no one but the absolute geekiest of comic book geeks have heard of this character, Marvel have over-reached this time!!
Surely, considering the fact that Edgar Wright, who wrote the screen play, and was due to direct it, left the project shortly before filming began, it had to fail. Surly, given all that, this had to be Marvel's first stinker!!
No. The franchise which can seemingly do no wrong has got it right again.
The thing about Ant-man is it's just so much fun. The laughs come thick and fast, from go to woah. Paul Rudd is as likable as ever as Scott Lang, the electrical engineer turned corporate burglar who stole from his greedy corporate bosses to repay the consumers they had fleeced for years.
Rudd is well supported by Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, the genius inventor of the Pym Particle and the original Ant-man, who sees more than a little of his younger self in Lang, just as he happens to be looking for a candidate to take over his legacy, since he retired from saving the world back in the 80's.
The always lovely Evangeline Lilly is, well, lovely. I loved her when she was lost on that TV show where all the plane crash survivors were lost together on an island (I think it was called 'Sexy Plane Crash survivors try to stay alive'). I loved her when she donned the pointy ears to play a butt-kicking elf goddess in the hobbit. And, I love her in this as the formerly estranged daughter of Hank Pym. She is fantastic as the corporate heavyweight with a keen interest in martial arts. The montage of her training Rudd's hapless character in the finer arts of hand to hand combat is worth the price of admission alone.
This is a movie, like Guardians of the Galaxy before it, which contains the perfect mix of comedy, action and dazzling special effects. The action scenes of Rudd cruising about with his little six-legged buddies look absolutely amazing.
If you're after a movie where you can kick back, not think too much, and just enjoy yourself this is the one for you.
This is the most unlikely hit movie ever, but it really works. It's the little super film that could.